A Friend
by TheBestEver222
Summary: Hiccup was just a normal kid who lived in the town of Berk. One day, while escaping everyday life for a little while, he comes across something extraordinary. Something he had thought hadn't existed. Something terrifying, yet exciting. But, most importantly, something he can call a friend.
1. Introduction

**_Disclaimer: I wish that I owned it, but sadly I do not._**

My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock. I know what you're thinking, who in their right mind would name their child that? I'm not quite sure why my parents named me this, but that's what they did. You get used to it.

I live with my father, my mother died in a car crash not long after I was born. I can't even remember what she looks like, but my dad and I are doing just fine on our own.

Another thing you should know about me before reading this, I had no friends. None at all. It might have something to do with me being a social outcast. But it could have been worse. I could have been beaten up everyday, but I only got beaten up every once in a while, so I guess that's good.

I'd never told my dad about the bullies, worried he'd think I was some kind of weakling, as if my size didn't already tell him that.

My dad is a pretty important man, the mayor of our small town called Berk. One would never guess that I was his son, I didn't tell anyone and nobody had figured it out. Something tells me that if I had told everyone at school that I was the mayor's son, no one would've believe me.

My life may seem pretty bad to people who didn't live it, and maybe even people that have. But to me, it could be worse. My father may have wish I was bigger and stronger sometimes, but it's not like he hated me or anything. And I may have had no friends and be pushed around sometimes, but at least I was alive, right?

Some days were better than others, but I wasn't depressed or suicidal. I promised myself I'd never sink so low, never give those people the satisfaction of knowing they had won.

So, yes, my life was not amazing or even good, but at least it wasn't horrible. And I was pretty thankful for that.

 ** _Hey guys! I'm back with a new fanfiction! This is my first How to Train Your Dragon fic, but I have seen the movie like a hundred times, so it's all good. This is obviously centered more around the first movie, so keep that in mind. I also don't plan on having the Viking gang in this story for a little while, but they will eventually show up. Also, Snotlout is not going to bully Hiccup in this story because I just don't want him to. This is my version of the movie and I will write it how I wish. I really hope you guys enjoy it! I will be updating everyday so look forward to my chapters! Bye!_**


	2. Chapter One

**_Disclaimer: Don't own it._**

I awoke to a loud beeping noise coming from my alarm clock. I glanced at the time. 7:00am. I groaned and slammed my fist down on it, shutting it off. I sat up in my small bed, the perfect size for me, and tossed the warm covers off of my body.

Setting my feet on the cold, hardwood floor, I stood up from my bed and made my way out of my bedroom and into the only bathroom in the house to get a shower. After scrubbing every inch of my body, including my hair, I got out from under the warm water and dried myself off, heading back to my room to continue getting ready for the school day. Too bad it was only Tuesday.

I quickly dressed in the first clothes I grabbed and brushed the knots from my wild hair. After I finished, I went back into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

When I had completely finished getting ready, I checked the time, finding that it was 7:30am. I grabbed my bag out of the living room and, after a quick goodbye to my father, who was in the kitchen, I left my house and began the long trek to school.

After about twenty minutes, the black silhouette of the high school came into view. Since this was the only high school in Berk, every kid in town that was of age went here, making it very often crowded.

There were especially a lot of freshmen, considering most people left after freshmen year to go to a better high school in some other town. I was a freshmen, having just turned fifteen, and I was among the smallest in the entire class. That's probably the main reason I was picked on and had no friends. I was so small and easy to beat up, and no one wants to be friends with the main target.

I hurried inside the building, one of the last students to arrive. I headed to my first class, history. I did pretty well in school, I guess you could call me a nerd. I wasn't exactly the best of the best, but I did pretty decently. I've never gotten less than a B-.

I took my seat in the back of the classroom, where I wasn't very noticeable, and opened to the page we were currently on in our history book. Right now we were learning about Vikings. I found the subject rather interesting.

Just as I flipped to the right page the teacher, Mr. Madden, walked into the classroom.

"Good morning class," he greeted with a bored look on his face, "today we will be continuing our lesson on Vikings. So, if you will, please open your books to page ninety-two and we will begin."

Halfway through the lesson, someone raised their hand.

"Yes, Mr. Jendews," Mr. Madden called on the student, who's name I believed to be Aidan.

"Did the Vikings ride dragons?" He asked.

"No, Mr. Jendews, they did not." Mr. Madden clarified in a tired voice, "You're old enough to know that such things do not and never have existed."

"Just wondering," Aidan muttered.

"Well stop," Mr. Madden said, turning back to his book and continuing with his lesson.

The bell rung not long afterwards and we were all off to our second period classes, mine was math.

Math is my worst subject. Remember when I said I've never gotten below a B-? Well I would have straight As had math not been involved. Too bad it was.

I was among the first to arrive in the math classroom. The only other people there were two boys that I did not know. I quietly took my seat and prepared for the class as best I could.

Soon the classroom was filled with students, all talking about something or other with their friends. I just sat down and stared at my desk, waiting for the teacher, Mrs. Gordon, to arrive.

"Hey runt!" A voice called, louder than all the others. I knew that voice. That voice belonged to Tyler Freddricks, the school bully. He and his gang were the ones who made my life miserable, and made everyone else avoid me.

I acted as if I hadn't heard him, but that didn't stop him. I was suddenly dangling a foot off of the ground with two fist clutching the collar of my shirt.

"I'm talking to you, you mistake! Maybe you should be taught a lesson on manners," he said in a threatening voice, but before he could do anything, Mrs. Gordon walked into the room. He let me fall to the ground before she saw him and made his way back to his seat. I scrambled up from the grungy floor and sat back in my desk, hardly paying attention to math now, just worry about what Tyler would do to me when he got the chance. I guess that means I have to try and not give him one.

 ** _Hey! I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! Leave a comment and tell me what you thought about it! Bye!_**


	3. Chapter Two

**_Disclaimer: I TOTALLY OWN IT! Oh wait… I lied._**

I was on my way to lunch and so far I had been able to avoid Tyler until now. Hopefully I can stay away from him until the end of the day. Only a few more hours to go.

I got in line for lunch before heading to my usually empty lunch table to eat. I usually sat at the only available table in the cafeteria, the one far off in the corner with no other tables near it. I liked it that way.

But, as I approached the table, I found that it was already taken. Five students sat at my table. The first one, a girl, had long, blonde hair that was done up in a braid, pieces hanging out and in her face. She had blue eyes. The next one, also a girl, had blonde hair as well, though it was in two braids instead of one, and she also had blue eyes. The boy sitting next to her looked similar, leading me to believe that they were in some way related. He had blonde hair just as long as the girl. Across from him sat a large boy with much shorter blonde hair and green eyes. The last boy had short, dark brown hair and bluish colored eyes.

I had never seen them around before, but I could have just missed them in the hallways. But if they had been here before, surely they would have known that I sat there for lunch. Or maybe they just didn't care.

I was about to just go sit on the floor somewhere out of the way when I spotted Tyler coming toward me from across the room. I decided to take my chances with the strangers. At least then I wouldn't be beaten to a pulp. Hopefully.

I headed in the direction of the table. As I got closer I could hear them talking about something, but they all immediately stopped when they noticed I was close enough to hear them.

The brown haired boy spoke first, "What do you want?"

I didn't say anything at first, suddenly worried that I had made the wrong decision in coming over here. Then, I mustered up enough courage and spoke.

"Well, uh, th-this is where I-I, uh, usually sit," I stuttered out.

"Well we're sitting here now," he said.

'Why didn't I just take my chances with Tyler?' I thought to myself.

"Well, uh, you see, I haven't got a-anywhere else t-to, um, eat so-" the brunette cut me off.

"So you want us to move?" He asked.

"N-no y-you don't have to I-I'll just go-" I was cut off again, but this time by the blonde-haired girl with one braid.

"Snotlout, let the poor kid be. You're scaring him."

"Fine." The brunette, who I now knew was called Snotlout, muttered.

"Sorry about him," she apologized, "he's just stupid."

"Am not!" Snotlout yelled in defiance.

"You kind of are," the second girl said.

"Well that makes two of us, doesn't it Ruffnut," he countered.

"Will you two shut up!" the girl said, "You can sit with us, if you'd like. Sorry we took your table."

"I-it's okay. It's n-not really my table anyway. I-I can go sit somewhere else," I said. Yes, I'm still stuttering. Don't ask me why, I'm just bad at English when it comes to talking to other people.

"Don't worry about it, you can sit here. We don't mind," the girl assured.

"O-okay," I mumbled in response.

I took a seat next to Snotlout, placing my lunch tray in front of me. I didn't eat any of it though, I suddenly wasn't very hungry.

"I guess we should introduce ourselves," the girl said, "I'm Astrid. These are the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut," she pointed to the two, "That over there is Fishlegs," she motioned to the big blonde, "and that sitting next to you is Snotlout," she nodded her head at him, "What's your name?"

"Um, my name is, uh, Hiccup," I muttered my name. I was embarrassed to say it. I don't know why I was named Hiccup, but I was. It was a terrible name and Tyler had plenty of jokes to go with it, such as 'Hiccup the Screwup' or 'Hideous Hiccup' and he'd been sure to let me know that a hiccup was a mistake of sorts, like this morning in math class. Why would my parents name me Hiccup?

"What was it?" Astrid asked, apparently not having heard what I'd said.

"It's Hiccup," I mumbled, but she still hadn't heard. Such a mistake. That's why they named me that, because they thought I was a mistake.

"What?"

"It's Hiccup, okay! You know, as in mistake!" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Nobody said anything, I grabbed my lunch and darted out of the lunch room before they had a chance. I'm sure they were laughing right now about my stupid name and how it fit me perfectly.

I'm not sure what had set me off, but I just couldn't help it. I couldn't remember the last time I had thought like that, though I was sure it hadn't been that long ago.

"Stupid people," I muttered to myself as I shoved my lunch into a trash can.

I started walking again, not sure where I was going, just letting my legs move on their own. Before I registered where I was going, I was out the front doors of the school. I kept going, only stopping when I felt something wet on my face. It was then that I realized I was crying.

"I'm such a baby," I muttered to myself, attempting to wipe away the tears that just kept coming.

I looked around, only to find that I was in the middle of some forest that I'd never seen before.

"What is wrong with me!" I shouted at nothing. Now I was lost.

I thought back to the group I had met and started to feel guilty. All that they had done was ask for my name, and I had yelled at them and left. They probably thought I was mentally unstable, and maybe I was. I don't really know anymore.

"I'm so stupid," I muttered to myself, "I've got to find a way back."

I picked a random direction, hoping it was the right one, and started off that way. I thought I would be back before lunch was over. Turns out I was wrong.

 ** _And there's chapter two! I hope you all enjoyed. Tell me what you thought about it. Was it good? Was it bad? Was it so stupid that you want to punch me? Tell me in the comments! Bye!_**


	4. Chapter Three

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own it, sadly._**

I continued wondering in the same direction for a little while. I was debating on whether or not to turn back and go the opposite way when I heard a noise not far away. It sounded like a shriek, but no sound that a human could make.

My first thought was to run in the opposite direction as fast as I could, not sure that whatever had made that shriek was friendly. My second thought was to go investigate where it had come from. As much sense as it made to listen to the first thought, my curiosity got the best of me and I chose to follow the second.

I started toward the sound, which had now faded away into nothing but an echo. I climbed over moss-covered logs and dodged low-hanging branches until I finally stumbled across something. A long trail led off to the left, as if something had been dragged across the ground.

At the start of the trail there was a large fallen tree. It was broken into multiple pieces and was quite far from the trunk it seemed to have broken off from, more then twenty yards. Whatever had snapped that tree in half must have been huge.

I followed the trail, and what I found was both astonishing and frightening.

At first, I didn't know what it was. It just looked like a large, black heap covered in mud and leaves. Upon closer inspection, I realized it had scales. And wings.

I jumped back as it moved, only realizing afterward that it had been taking a breath. I knew what it was now, I had seen drawings of it it story books and had heard about it in fairytales. It was a dragon.

I felt like this was some kind of weird dream that I would wake up from at any moment. But I never did wake up.

Instead I studied the creature. It was hardly moving and it had small cuts in several different places. My guess was that it had crashed into something and hadn't recovered yet. That would explain the fallen tree at the start of the trail.

I honestly didn't know what to do. I hadn't even believed in dragons ten minutes ago, and now there was one lying right in front of me, knocked out and possibly injured. I didn't see anything else wrong with it besides a few little scrapes here and there.

It was as black as a moonless, starless night, with four legs and wings to match. One of it's wings was at least as big as me. It was humongous. How had it managed to stay hidden for this long?

That's when I noticed that it was looking at me. It was awake, staring at me with large, emerald green eyes. It was almost glaring.

I yelped and jumped even further back. This seemed to startle it, as it jumped up from where it had been lying and landed right on me. It held me down with it's massive paw that had large claws, each one almost the size of a paring knife.

I struggled to get away, but it was no use. If this thing wanted me dead, then I would die.

It stared at me for a moment, before opening it's mouth, which was filled with sharp teeth, and giving another loud shriek. It darted off in a random direction, flapping it's wings as it went.

I stood up on wobbly legs and ran in the other direction. I didn't care whether I got back to school or not, at the moment all I wanted to do was put distance between me and that thing.

 ** _Kind of short, I realize that. But it's good enough right? I hope so. Tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments! Bye!_**


	5. Chapter Four

**_Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure you already know this from the billions of times that I've already said it, but in case you have forgotten, let me just remind you that I DON'T OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON!_**

I ran as fast as I could, my heart beating out of my chest. After a while, I found myself back on school grounds. I was relieved to be out of those woods, away from that terrifying creature. I had just discovered a dragon, a real life dragon!

A part of me wanted to go back. I was absolutely terrified of the creature, but, for some reason, I still wanted to go back and study it. It was definitely an interesting being.

Turns out that school was nearly over when I got there, last period was just beginning. I rushed to collect my books for biology and ran to class.

I arrived just as the late bell rang, opening the door and attempting to get to my seat. But the teacher was already there.

"How nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Haddock," Mr. Jefferson said in a displeased tone.

"S-sorry, sir. I-I, uh, just got a b-bit distracted is a-all," I apologized quickly.

"Very well. Seeing as this is the first time you've done anything of this sort, I'll let you off with a warning, but don't let it happen again," he gestured to my seat as he spoke.

As I hurried to my desk I could feel my face heating up. Why didn't I just skip the rest of the day?

Mr. Jefferson started the lesson up again, but I wasn't paying attention. I had my notebook open and I was drawing a picture of the dragon I had seen. I know it's stupid, but I couldn't help but draw it. Even if it was terrifying, it was a magnificent creature.

As I was drawing, I kept thinking about the fact that I had seen an actual dragon. I could hardly believe it.

Just as I was completing the drawing, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. I quickly gathered all of my belongings and made for the door.

As I exited the classroom, I was tripped by a waiting foot. I dropped all of my books, including my notebook.

I looked up to see who had tripped me, only to find that it was Tyler. I should have known.

"Well, if it isn't the little runt," he taunted.

As he spoke, I collected my dropped items. Just as I was about to grab my notebook, it was ripped out of my grasp.

"What's this," Tyler asked, opening the notebook to my latest drawing. He burst out laughing.

"Has little Hiccup been drawing dragons? What are you, five?" He said, holding the notebook open in front of him.

"N-no I-I was just-" he cut me off.

"Just what? Drawing crappy little pictures of things that are in fairytales?" Tyler threw the book down in front of me, nearly hitting me in the head with it.

"Keep your little doodles, dragon boy," he chuckled as he walked away.

I quickly grabbed my notebook and ran to my locker, tossing all of my belongings into it. We had no homework tonight, thankfully. I don't think I would have been able to focus on it.

The only thing I actually kept with me was my drawing notebook, sticking it in my bag and walking toward the exit.

I began walking home, but somewhere along the way I started to go back into the woods. I knew it was stupid and dangerous, but I just had to go. I couldn't help but be curious. I had to be sure that I hadn't just made the whole thing up in my head.

I vaguely remembered which way to go, and soon I was right where I had first seen the dragon. There was a trail that kept going, so I followed it.

It led to a large crater in the earth. I didn't see anything, so I figured the dragon had already flown away.

"Well this was stupid," I muttered to myself. I'm not sure what exactly I had expected to find, there was nothing here.

That's when I heard a loud roar, similar to the one I had heard earlier that day. I looked around the large hole until I saw it. The dragon from earlier was trying to jump out of the pit, but it just kept falling back down to the ground.

I quickly pulled out my notebook and compared the drawing to the real thing. It was pretty accurate.

"Why don't you just fly away?" I muttered. The dragon thrashed it's tail around, and that's when I noticed that half of it was missing.

One side of the tail was gone, probably torn off during the crash landing earlier. I erased that part of the tail from my drawing. This thing must not be able to fly without it's tail intact. It would be stuck here until it died.

I was about to leave and forget any of this had happened. This thing could take care of itself, I had to let it be. But then it turned around, noticing me for the first time. It made eye contact with me, and it's bright green eyes stared right at me. It looked scared. It wanted to get out of here, but it couldn't fly. It knew it would die if it couldn't fly.

I was the one who broke eye contact, quickly turning away and making my way back to civilization.

The entire walk back all I thought about was the dragon. What was I going to do? If I left it there, it would surely die. If I came back, it could kill me.

"I can't just leave there," I said to myself, "who knows what could happen to it."

I had made my decision. I would somehow help this creature, one I had just found a few hours ago and hadn't believed it had existed before that. What had I gotten myself into?


	6. Chapter Five

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own the movie, but I will buy it someday. Someday._**

After school the next day, and not having seen those people from the other day, I decided that the best way to help the dragon at the moment was to feed it, so at least it wouldn't starve.

"What do dragons like?" I asked myself as I walked into our small kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

It contained very few things, my father had yet to go shopping. There was cheese, an egg carton containing one egg, some lettuce, some celery, and, the most promising item, an unopened package of chicken.

"This should work for now," I said to myself, grabbing the chicken and heading for the front door.

Right now it was about 4:30pm. It was mid April, so it got dark around 7:30pm. That would give me plenty of time to feed the dragon and be back home before sunset.

I headed in the general direction of the woods, stopping every now and then to be sure no one was watching me. I didn't need someone following me into the woods only to find that I was feeding a creature that was only meant to exist in fairytales.

When I reached the first line of trees of the forest, I looked around me once, just to be sure that I was indeed alone. After confirming that I was not accompanied by any unwanted stalkers, I made my way back to where I remembered the large crater in the earth to be located.

After much walking, and a bit of stumbling blindly, I finally found what I was looking for. I peeked into the hole, half expecting the dragon to have somehow disappeared, whether it just be because it had flown away or that I had imagined it. But, just like last time, it was still struggling to climb up the sides of the ditch, only to fail and fall back to the earth below.

I took a deep breath before cautiously climbing down into the crater, careful to not disturb the dragon and checking every couple of feet to make sure I could climb back out.

When I reached the bottom of the pit, I looked around to see where the dragon had gone. It was taking a drink from a small pond in the middle of the ditch. I quietly edged toward it.

Somewhere along the way, I must have made too much noise, resulting in the dragon turning around to face me.

We made eye contact, only for a moment, before it began growling at me and backing away.

"No, no, no. It's okay," I said in a calm voice, bringing the package of chicken out from behind me and quickly opening it.

The dragon seemed slightly curious, but cautious all the same. It looked from me to the now open package of chicken, and then back again.

I picked up one of the raw chicken legs, holding it out in front of me. The dragon edged its way over, little by little, until it was right in front of me. It opened its mouth slightly.

"Hm, toothless," I said, noticing that it had no teeth in its mouth, only gums, "I could have sworn you had-" I was cut off by teeth suddenly appearing in the dragon's mouth and ripping the chicken out of my hand.

"Teeth," I muttered to myself.

After it consumed the entire package of chicken, it sniffed the air and nudged me in the side.

"I'm sorry. I don't have anymore," I apologized.

It snorted and ran away from me, lying down somewhere much further away, after lighting the ground on fire, of course.

I slowly made my way closer to it, intrigued. It's not every day you discover a dragon.

I got so close that I could touch it. I wanted to see what its scales felt like. I've never petted a dragon before, believe it or not.

I reached out a hand to touch its tail, but before I could so much as place my finger on it, the dragon lifted its tail to stare at me. I quickly stood up and went the other way, sitting down on a rock nearby.

After a little while, it started getting dark. I was drawing a picture of the dragon in the dirt with a stick, having nothing else to do. Just as I was completing the drawing, I heard a large thump next to me. I didn't have to look up to know that it had come and sat down next to me.

I paused slightly in my drawing, surprised that it had come so close to me, but soon I was finishing it.

That's when I heard a loud cracking noise, and before I knew what was going on, the dragon was prancing around with a stick in its mouth, dragging it along the ground, almost like I had been.

After repeatedly swirling the stick around in the dirt, it sat down at the far edge of the drawing, leaving me to find a way out of the loops that were drawn in the dirt.

I started to walk out of my small circle of space, only for the dragon to growl angrily at me.

After looking down, I realized I was stepping on one of the many lines it had drawn. I lifted up my foot, the dragon stopped growling. I placed my foot back down on the same line, testing out my theory.

One again, it growled. After testing it a third time, I understood what to do and stepped over the line, careful not to step on any more.

I twisted and turned, stepping over the lines without pausing. Before I knew it, I had bumped into the dragon.

I turned around, staring it in the eyes. It didn't look so terrifying now. I brought my hand up and slowly moved to place it on its nose. It growled softly, not wanting to be touch.

I took a deep breath and faced the other way, closing my eyes. I reached out toward the dragon. I felt smooth scales against the palm of my hand, and I flinched slightly. I opened my eyes and faced the dragon again. He stared at me for a moment with dilated pupils, before they narrowed and he ran away.

That's when I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. That's when I knew that he somewhat trusted me.

 ** _Hey my peeps! What did you think of chapter five? Was it good or bad? Tell me in the comments! Also, if you were wondering why Hiccup is now calling Toothless a he instead of an it, it's because he is now thinking of him as more of a living creature instead of just a terrible beast. Just wanted to clear that up for those of you who might be wondering, though I doubt any of you are. Some of you guys might not have even noticed, but just in case. Anyway, bye!_**


	7. Chapter Six

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own it bruh…_**

As I walked home in the almost complete darkness, I thought about Toothless, which was what I had decided to call the dragon. He was definitely going to need more food, so hopefully my father would go grocery shopping soon. I had no doubt that he would.

I carried with me the empty container of chicken, wanting to dispose of it properly. As I was nearing my house, I spotted my father's car parked in the driveway, hard to make out in the almost nonexistent light.

Just as I was approaching the front step, a loud clap of thunder startled me, making me jump. I hurried inside, not feeling like being soaked through with rain tonight.

I closed the door quietly behind me, not wanting to wake my father if he was already asleep. It turns out, I needn't have bother. He was still awake, sitting at the kitchen counter when I walked in to toss the empty chicken package in the trash.

"Hey, dad," I greeted as I walked over to the trashcan to depose of the garbage. My father said nothing.

I turned to look at him after I had gotten rid of the package, wondering way he was suddenly so quiet.

"You okay, dad?" I wondered aloud, but he ignored me, asking a question of his own.

"What did you just throw away?"

"An empty package of chicken legs, why?" I asked. His face contorted into a look of rage.

"Who told you that you could take food from this house?!" He yelled. I flinched away from his harsh voice, slightly frightened.

"I, um, well I-I just thought-" I was cut off mid-sentence.

"Well you thought wrong! You are not allowed to take any food without my permission! Understand?" He yelled again, enraged by something so simple.

I couldn't understand why he was so angry. My father was usually calm in the most infuriating situations, so why was he getting so irritated over something so simple and small?

That's when I smelled it, the scent of alcohol. It was so strong I wondered how I hadn't smelled it before now. My father was drunk.

I was astonished. My father never drank. I had never seen him take a sip of alcohol in his life. He said that he didn't like it.

"D-dad, just calm down. Y-you're-" the rest of my sentence was lost in his rant.

"Do not tell me to calm down! I am your father and you will do as I say! You listen to me, not the other way around! Now shut up!" He screamed.

"B-but dad-"

"Shut up! What don't you understand about shut up! You're such a mistake, Hiccup!" He shouted angrily, "If you don't want to keep your mouth shut, then maybe I should just be rid of you! You're just a waste of space any way!"

I didn't know what he meant by that, but I knew it couldn't have been good.

"D-dad don't-" I started to object, but the words were interrupted by a stinging on my face.

At first, I couldn't figure out what had happened, but then I knew. My father had hit me. I was so shocked. My father had never hit me before in his life, not even a little. He didn't believe in hitting his child.

When I had finally comprehended what had happened, I felt a lump form in my throat. How could my own father hit me?

"Until you can learn to be quiet, you can stay outside!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the front door.

I was thrown out on the front lawn, landing on my back. I quickly scrambled to my feet.

"You'll be allowed back inside in the morning!" My father yelled, turning around and going back inside, locking the door behind him.

Now that I was no longer in my father's presence, I let a few tears escape. I could still feel the mark on my face, though it didn't hurt anymore. I could still hardly believe my father had slapped me, drunk or not. And the things he had said, me being a mistake and a waste of space, they hurt more than when he had hit me.

I ran from my front yard, heading for the woods. I didn't exactly want to see Toothless at the moment, but I needed somewhere to go. And Toothless was my only sort-of friend at the moment.

I ran as fast as my scrawny legs would carry me, which was still too slow for me. I wanted to get away from the awful memory as fast as I could, just cast it aside for a little while.

After what felt like hours of running, but really couldn't have been more than twenty minutes, I finally came across the large hole in the ground, wheezing and out of breath.

I could still feel big, wet tears falling constantly down my already damp face. I tried to stop them from coming, but every time I did I would just remember my father's cruel eyes and stinging words and a fresh wave of tears hit me all over again.

I tried to climb down into the pit, but my limbs were too shaky, I couldn't get a good enough hold. I settled for just curling up in a ball right near the lip of the hole.

What was I thinking, coming all the way out here? What would Toothless want with me anyway? He probably didn't even like me, just tolerated me because he thought that I was a source of food and I might eventually be able to get him out of there. I mean, it seemed pretty reasonable. My own father thought I was a waste of space.

At the reminder of the conversation I had had with my dad, a sob escape my lips, loud and broken. I'm so pathetic, crying over a little slap and some stupid words, but I couldn't help it. He was my dad, the only family that I had left. How could I not feel bad about him not wanting me around?

Another sob slipped past my lips, this even one louder. I just wanted that stupid pain in my chest to go away. It felt like someone was squeezing my heart and squashing my lungs. I could hardly breathe. I hated the feeling, it was completely foreign to me, and I just wanted it gone.

My breath came out in ragged gasps, sometimes stopped by broken sobs. But even over my loud sniffles and sobs, I still heard a small scuffling sound. I hardly realized it at first, paying it no mind, but it grew louder, more frantic. It grew closer. It sounded like it was coming from-

My thoughts were cut off as a giant, black form appeared in front of me, seemingly materializing from out of the ground. I knew immediately that it must be Toothless, but how had he managed to climb out of that ditch?

The only part of him I could really make out was his eyes, which shined a brilliant emerald green in the moonless night. I could vaguely make out the rest of his body through my tears.

"Toothless?" I managed to get out through my sobs. I quickly wiped away my tears and attempted to steady my voice.

He made a rumbling sound in reply, confirming that it was indeed him. I could just make out his head as it tilted to one side. He made another rumbling sound, this one sounding more like a question. What's wrong?

"Nothing, bud. I-I'm just not feeling well is all," I answered his unspoken question.

Toothless walked closer, crouching low to the ground. He nudged my shoulder with his head.

"I-I'm fine, Toothless," I tried to reassure him, " I'm fine," maybe I would have succeeded, had my voice not cracked at the end.

He nudged me harder, this time in the chest. I couldn't do it anymore. I wrapped my arms around the dragon's neck, pressing my cheek against his shoulder. The tears began to flow again.

Toothless seemed slightly startled, jumping as I wrapped my arms around his neck, but then he just laid down right where he was, nuzzling my hair slightly.

After a moment or two, I sat up straight, pulling away from Toothless.

"I-I'm sorry. I just," I sniffled, "I just needed a hug."

To showed me that he understood, Toothless stuck out his huge tongue and licked my face. I chuckled. The weird feeling in my chest resided a little.

I wiped off the saliva that had been left on my face and said, "Eh, you're disgusting."

Toothless made a rumbling noise that sounded almost like laughter. I smiled.

"Thanks, bud. Sorry I had to bother you so late at night." I apologized.

Toothless nudged me with his head, seemingly saying that it was okay.

"I wish I could go back," I said, mostly to myself. Toothless tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"M-my dad kicked m-me out after I came back with that empty chicken package. Said that I wasn't allowed to take any food without his permission," I explained, sighing slightly.

"I guess tonight were roomies!" I said with fake enthusiasm. Toothless snorted.

"Hopefully he'll have sobered up by morning and he'll let me back in the house. Dad's never been drunk before, so I'll guess we'll find out."

I laid down on my back, Toothless lying down a few feet away. I closed my eyes, and it wasn't long before I began to feel drowsy. Just as I was drifting off into sleep, I heard something moving next to me, and the next thing I know there's a head laid right on my stomach.

"Toothless," I whined playfully.

Toothless just looked up at me with innocent eyes, acting as if he hadn't done anything. With a sigh, I placed my hand on Toothless' head and closed my eyes once again. This time, without any interruptions, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

 ** _And there's chapter six! I hope all of you guys enjoyed it, I definitely enjoyed writing it. I'm going to tell you right now though, I wouldn't think for a minute that Stoick would physically harm Hiccup. Never in a bazillion years. But, for the sake of this story, I put it in. Feel free to imagine it as some other bozo, that's what I did when I was writing it. Anyway, tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments! Did it make you sad? Did it make you mad? Did it make you want to cry because of the adorable part between Hiccup and Toothless? Tell me all about your reactions down in the comments! Well, gotta go, so, bye!_**


	8. Chapter Seven

**_Disclaimer: No, I do not own How to Train Your Dragon._**

I woke up to the sun shining threw the trees. At first, I was confused as to where I was and I tried to sit up. But when I couldn't, I looked down at my stomach and saw Toothless' head resting there. The events from last night came rushing back to me and I felt that strange feeling return to my chest. But then, as I looked down at the now awakening Toothless, it ceased.

"Hey, bud," I said, petting him on the head.

He yawned, opening his large jaws to show off his gummy mouth, filled with hidden teeth. I laid my head back down on the ground, perfectly content in lying there for the rest of the day and possibly getting a little bit more sleep, but then I remembered why I couldn't.

"Oh man! I have school today!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet.

Toothless looked at me curiously, wondering what I was talking about.

"Ugh, what am I going to do?" I asked myself. I glanced at the watch that was wrapped around my wrist, not taking the time to remember when I had put it there. It read 7:15am.

"I'll never get back in time to get ready!" I realized, "What am I going to do?"

I know that it would be reasonable to just skip, but I had never missed a day of school in my life. And even if had, my father wouldn't be calling in to tell them that I was absent, I was screwed either way.

Toothless grumbled, kneeling down on the ground.

"You'll give me a ride?" I asked. He nodded his huge head.

"But I thought you couldn't fly," I said. Toothless rolled his eyes. He made a dragonish bark, signaling me to just get on. I did as I was told.

As soon as I sat down, Toothless starting running. Fast. I had to wrap my arms around his neck to keep myself from falling off.

"Toothless!" I screamed, but that didn't slow him down.

It wasn't long before we were out of the woods and Toothless was running across town.

"Toothless!" I shouted, more urgently this time. He stopped, twisting his head around to look at me with questioning eyes.

"You can't be out in the open like this!" I whispered frantically, leading him behind an abandoned building, "People aren't exactly accustomed to giant dragons running about the place!"

What was I supposed to do with him now? I could see my house from here, all I had to do was reach it and then Toothless could hide out by the shed for a little while until I was ready for school. I would sneak him back then.

I checked to make sure that no one was around, and then cautiously walked to my house. As soon as I was behind the cover of my house, I ran to the shed, Toothless right behind me.

"Stay here," I ordered, leaving Toothless to sit behind the shed.

I ran up to the front step, immediately noticing that my father's car was gone. Good, he wouldn't be very happy to discover that a dragon was hiding in his backyard. Also, I wasn't really keen on talking to him after what had happened last night.

I rushed into the house and up the stairs to my room. I grabbed the first clean clothes that I saw, quickly changing into them. I ran to the bathroom and threw open the door. I quickly brushed my teeth and hair, putting everything back in it's proper place before running back down the stairs.

Just as I was about to race out the door, it opened. In the doorframe, standing tall and broad, was my father.

 ** _A cliff hanger, what do you think about that? So, tell me, was this chapter good or bad? I love reading all of the comments that you guys post, every time I see that there's another I get excited. Sometimes I just sit there and refresh the page a couple of times, just in case. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it, sorry it's kind of short! Be sure to leave a comment! Bye!_**


	9. Chapter Eight

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own it, and I never will._**

"Hiccup?" I looked down at my shoes at the sound of my name.

"Hey, dad. I've got to get to school, so I'll just be going now," I said, trying to slip around him.

"Not so fast. Where have you been?" He asked, as if he hadn't been the one to send me outside in the first place. I didn't say a word.

"Hiccup, I asked you a question! Now where have you been?" He said, a little louder this time.

"I was outside," I muttered.

"Why were you outside?" He asked me.

"Don't you remember?" I asked.

"Remember what?"

"What happened when you got home last night?" I asked. He was the silent one this time.

"Well, I was just outside and got lost," I quickly lied, not really wanting to talk about the events of last night.

"I've got to go if I don't want to be late," I informed him, glancing at my watch that read 7:30am.

"Right," he said, stepping out of my way.

I walked out the door, and just when I was out is sight of it, I darted over to the shed.

"Come on, Toothless," I said, darting behind buildings and dodging alleyways whenever possible as I led the way back to the forest.

"Now, you stay here. I'll be back right after school to check on you," I said, walking back the way I had come.

I made it to school just in time, rushing to history class.

I didn't pay much attention in any of my classes, mostly thinking of Toothless. I hoped that he was okay, and that nobody saw him this morning.

Before I knew it, I was heading to lunch. I walked quickly, eager to be done with this period and continue on to the rest.

As I entered the lunch room, I noticed that my table was empty, no longer occupied by a bunch of strangers. I honestly didn't want to see those people again, not after my little outburst.

I sat as far away as I could from the rest of the student body, hiding in the far corner of the table. Hopefully no one would bother me. I hadn't thought to pack a lunch today and I hadn't bright any money, I was rushing to get Toothless out of sight. I probably would have been provided with a lunch, had I asked, but I wasn't that hungry anyway. I would live.

The one thing that I had brought with me was my notebook. I took it out, opening it to the drawing of Toothless. What could I do about his tail?

As I was thinking, a badly crafted paper airplane hit me in the back of the head. I didn't have to look up to know that it was Tyler, his laughter could be heard from across the room.

I picked up the plane and placed it on the table, planning on throwing it away when I left for class. I continued to think of ideas, only to toss them aside in my mind when they didn't exactly work.

I glanced back at the paper airplane. Planes had tail fins, didn't they? And they needed both of them to fly, otherwise they would fall. If Toothless only had one tail fin, he couldn't fly.

I glanced between my drawing and the planet, and suddenly I knew what to do.

"All I've got to do," I muttered to myself, "is construct him a new tail fin!"

I scribbled the other half of Toothless's tail into the drawing, happy that I had finally figured out what to do.

But how was I supposed to make one. Maybe we had some things in the shed that I could use. I had to try.

As I was making a list of all of the things I would need in my notebook right next to the drawing, someone sat next to me.

I quickly slammed my book shut, not wanting them to see what I was doing, before looking up at them. It was that girl from yesterday, Astrid.

"Hey," she said, setting here tray down in front of her.

"Um, h-hi," I stuttered.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"N-nothing, just sitting here," I answered quickly.

"About yesterday," she began. Here we go, "sorry."

What? Why had she apologized? It's not like she did anything wrong by asking me for my name.

"What have you got to be sorry for?" I asked.

"For pushing you to tell me your name. I didn't know. I'm really sorry," she apologized once more.

"It's okay, it was a stupid thing to get upset over," I said, "Where's the rest of your group?"

"They're coming, except for Ruffnut, she's sick," Astrid informed me.

"Tell her I hope she feels better," I said.

"I will," she said. We were quiet for a few minutes, waiting for the others.

"Hey, Hiccup?" Astrid suddenly said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You're not a mistake, you know," she said, "Whoever told you that is a liar."

"Dad's don't lie," I muttered quietly to myself. I hadn't meant to say it aloud, it just kind of slipped out.

If Astrid had heard, she didn't say anything.

"Thanks," I said, louder this time.

"It's the truth," was all she said before we were accompanied by her friends.

"Hey , Hiccup," Fishlegs greeted.

"Hi," I said back.

"Where's your lunch?" Snotlout asked.

"Oh, I forgot to bring one. I wasn't really that hungry anyway," I said.

"You can have some of mine, if you want," Astrid offered.

"Nah, I'll eat when I get home," I told her. In my head I silently added, "if my father's not there."

"What's that?" Tuffnut asked, pointing to my notebook.

"Oh, this? It's just a notebook," I explained.

"What's it for?" Astrid asked.

"Well, anything really," I said.

"Can I see it?" She asked.

"If you really want to," I said, handing her the small book, forgetting about its precious contents.

She opened it to the first page, where I had drawn a picture of my house.

"Is that your house?" Snotlout asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Isn't that the mayor's house?" Fishlegs asked. I didn't say anything.

"How do you know what the mayor's house looks like?" Snotlout asked.

"I just saw a picture of it," Fishlegs said, producing a phone out of nowhere and looking up a picture of my house. He showed it to everyone.

"They do look a lot alike," Tuffnut said.

"Doesn't the mayor have a son?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, I can't remember his name though. It was something that started with an h, like Hayden, or Henry, or-"

"Hiccup," I said, "His son's name is Hiccup."

"Wait, you share a name with the mayor's son?" Snotlout asked.

"No, you dimwit! He is the mayor's son," Astrid explained in an exasperated tone.

"No offense, but I pictured someone a bit bigger," Tuffnut said. Astrid elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shut up," she said.

"It's okay, I'm pretty sure that's what my dad picture too," I said.

"Anyway," Astrid said, flipping the page in the notebook. On this page there was a list labeled "Stupid Things About Hiccup". It included things such as "he's useless", "he's a screwup", and, of course, "he's got a stupid name".

"What?" They all looked at me.

"I didn't write it, Tyler did," I explained.

"Why didn't you just rip it out?" Astrid asked.

"It would ruin the notebook and I don't think my dad would have wanted to buy me a new one to replace it."

Astrid flipped the page again and this one was blank. They all looked confused.

"I wrote it in invisible ink. I thought that it was cool back then," I said, thinking back to a year ago when I thought that invisible ink was the most amazing thing ever.

Astrid skipped around in the book a little bit, stopping in a random page. Because I was the most unluckiest person in the world, it just so happened that it was the page with the drawing of Toothless on it, accompanied by the list of materials I needed for his new tail.

"Is that what I think it is?" Snotlout asked.

"Not you too," Tuffnut complained. I shut my notebook and took it away.

"What do you mean?" I asked Tuffnut once I had safely place my notebook in my lap.

"Astrid was talking about how she'd seen someone riding a dragon on her way to school his morning. She wouldn't shut up about it," Tuffnut explained. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

"Shut up! I know what I saw!" Astrid kicked Tuffnut under the table.

"You saw- this morning- riding a dragon- what?!" I sputtered out.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm crazy. Can we move on?" Astrid asked.

Why did it have to be Astrid that saw me? Why couldn't it have been a complete stranger? But what if it wasn't me? I'm sure there are plenty of dragon riding teenagers. Yeah, had to be someone else.

"What did the dragon look like?" I asked.

"Don't tell me you actually believe her!" Tuffnut exclaimed. I said nothing, motioning for Astrid to answer.

"It was black, though it was going too fast to tell much else. But I do know that it was a dragon. It had wings," she described the dragon.

"What about the rider?" I asked urgently. It had to have been someone else.

"From what I could tell, they were smallish and had auburn hair, kind of like your's," she said, pointing to my hair.

Oh, no. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening.

"Astrid, I think you just dreamt it," Snotlout said.

"I know what I saw!" She objected once more.

"Sure…" Snotlout said.

"I'll prove that the dragon is real, that will show all of you!" She said, obviously angry.

"I've got to go," I said, standing up from the table. I had to go get Toothless and figure out what to do.

"Are you sure?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, got something I have to do. Homework and stuff," I said to them, running out of the lunch room. This tail fin was going to have to be made faster than I had originally thought. Hopefully I'd have everything I needed.

 ** _And chapter eight is finished! I hope you all enjoyed! Did you see it coming? I sure didn't! Anyway, tell me what you thought about it all down in the comments! Bye!_**


	10. Chapter Nine

I knew that I wasn't supposed to be able to leave school whenever I wished, but this was an emergency. If my father ever found out that I had skipped school, I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy. And we all know how that turned out last time.

I wouldn't be surprised if the entire group, or at least Astrid, was suspicious by now. It seemed kind of obvious to me, but, after years of sitting quietly in the back of the room and studying people, I've come to understand that most people don't see what is right in front of them. They tend to put off something as unbelievable until it is standing right in front of them, no matter how obvious it may have been before. I never understood people in that way. If something was obviously happening, how could you just not see that it was? People are very oblivious.

I arrived at my house sooner than I had thought I would, noticing that my father's car was once again missing from the driveway. Hoping that the driveway would stay empty, I rushed to the back of our house, looking for all the materials I would need.

After collecting a decent amount of the right nails, screws, nuts, and bolts, and even a few metal rods, I exited the shed, checking off the list as I went.

The last thing that I needed was some kind of lightweight material to make the tail fin out of.

Would a sheet work? Yeah, I'm sure Toothless would just love to fly around with a bed sheet strapped to his tail. I guess I could just look around and see what I find.

I stashed the rest of my findings away in the shed and went inside to see what I could find. First, I went into the kitchen and checked every single draw in there, just incase something was hidden in one of them. Then, I checked all around the living room, even under the stairs. After finding nothing worth anything to me in either of those places, I ran up the stairs to search my own room.

I found nothing useful once again, moving on to the bathroom. I didn't think that I would find anything there, considering it was a bathroom, and it turns out that I was right. I didn't even think about searching my father's room, he would notice if something went missing. The last room in the house that I had yet to check was a small closet at the far end of the hall. I had been told to never go in there, I'm not quite sure why, but this was an emergency. Maybe there was something that I could use in there.

I walked slowly toward the door, suddenly unsure if I should open it. But I had to. I placed my hand on the cool, brass knob, twisting it open. What I saw surprised me, and I could hardly stand.

 ** _Hey guys! Here's chapter nine! Sorry it's, like, super duper short, but I wanted to leave you on a cliff hanger. What do you think is in the closet? Tell me down in the comments, I want to see what you guys think it is. I'll see if any of you are close! Also, while you're down there, tell me what you thought of this short little update! Thanks for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed it! Bye!_**


	11. Chapter Ten

**_Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own How to Train Your Dragon._**

Everywhere I looked, there were pictures of her, and things that she had owned. She was a beautiful woman, that's what it showed in the pictures. Why couldn't I just remember her? Why couldn't I remember my own mother?

I was so young, not even a year old, when she died. I don't have any memory of that day or what had happened, but my father told me that she had been killed in a car accident. I wish I had been old enough to understand, old enough to remember. But I wasn't, she had been killed long before I was able to remember anything.

I had always wondered where all of her things had gone, she must have had something, but I had never thought about it too much. Now I knew where it had all gone. My father had taken it all and hidden it in this closet because he couldn't deal with the memories. He had to keep it hidden so that he wouldn't remember her.

Why wouldn't he want to? Why would he want to forget about her? I wish that he hadn't hidden all of her things, all of her memories, in this stupid closet. I wish that I had been able to see them before now.

I suddenly felt angry. Angry at my father, for keeping my mother's things tucked away in some closet that I was forbidden to go into. Angry at the driver who caused the crash that my mother was in, that he had gotten to live and she hadn't. Angry at myself for not being able to remember anything about my mother.

I felt so mad at everything, I just wanted to punch someone. It was a good thing that no one was around at the moment.

Then, my anger depleted, replaced with a great sadness. I would never be able to see my mother, never have any memories with her. A few tears leaked out of my eyes. Why did this have to happen to me?

The reason I had opened the closet was completely forgotten as I sunk to the floor in a heap.

"Why me?" Was all that kept repeating in my head, almost like a chant.

I was overcome with anger once again. I could hardly contain it. It was all my father's fault! He was the reason everything was so messed up!

He was the one who kept anything of my mother's hidden. He was the one who never went shopping. He was a the one who went and got himself drunk. He was the one who had hit me and called me belittling names. It was all his fault that my life was so messed up right now.

Blind with rage, I punched the wall next to the open closet door. I didn't manage to damage anything except for my own hand, that know throbbed with pain. I clutched it to my chest, regretting my decision already.

I curled into a little ball, trying to just block out the world for a little while. I wasn't sure if I was angry or sad anymore, I just knew that I wasn't happy.

I wondered if the gods were laughing at my own stupidity right now, if they just viewed my life as some kind of sick game. All that I had been trying to do was help a poor creature who badly needed it. I guess that's what I get for trying to help.

Thinking about Toothless reminded me of what I had come here to do in the first place. I had come to find something to fix Toothless' tail, and I wasn't going just going to abandoned the whole thing. My actions no longer just affected me, but Toothless as well. The longer he stayed flightless, the more danger he was in. Especially now, with Astrid searching for him.

I stood up from the ground, wiping the tears from my cheeks. I had to keep looking. There was only one place that I had left to check. My father's room. He had to have something in there that I would be able to use.

I walked slowly to his room, cautiously swinging the door open when I reached it. Here goes nothing.

 ** _Yes, I do realize I'm a terrible person. Oh well. Sorry this chapter is short again! I was going to make it longer, but then I was like, "nah, I want to end it here." It's kind of late and I have school tomorrow. Sorry guys. I'll try to make the next chapter a bit longer. We'll see how it turns out. Tell me what you I thought about this chapter, beside the fact that it was short. What were you expecting Hiccup to find that in the forbidden closet? Were you expecting him to find something dead? I'm pretty sure there were a couple of people who thought that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter ten, bye!_**


	12. Chapter Eleven

My father's room wasn't the best kept room in the world, with blankets hanging off the side of his unmade bed and clothes spread across the floor, but that wasn't what I had come to look for. I crossed the large room, much larger than mine, to the closet on the other side.

I carefully opened the door and peeked inside. His closet was full of coats and jackets, some that I couldn't remember him having worn at all. Most of them were made of several different kinds of material, many of which I didn't know the name of. Then there were a few, very few, that I spotted made of leather. They were strange looking, but I knew what leather looked like. This would be the perfect thing to make Toothless's tail out of.

I snatched one from the hangar it was placed on and hurried out of my father's room. Hopefully he wouldn't miss this one coat. I don't recall him ever having worn it anyway.

I shut the door behind me and dashed out of the house, wanting to get started on my project.

I laid the coat down beside the other materials I had collected, getting to work immediately. I knew I wouldn't have much time until my father got home, but hopefully I'd have enough.

Just as I was finishing the last few parts, I heard a car pull into the driveway. You couldn't see the shed from the driveway, or the other way around. My father hadn't seen me yet.

I worked as fast as I possibly could, placing the last few pieces into their proper places. As soon as I popped the last part into place, I heard a car door slam.

From our front step, you had a clear view of the backyard, the shed included. I was just in front of it.

I gathered the artificial tail in my arms and darted behind the house. I couldn't get to the woods without going past the front door.

I stayed quiet, hoping my dad would just go inside and that would be the end of it. But no, it seemed that Lady Luck had it out for me, as instead he went out to the shed to check on things.

He walked into the shed to do gods know what, only to appear outside of it a couple seconds later, leaving me no time to escape.

There was no other way around the house other than the way I had come. I was trapped until my father left.

He seemed to be heading back to the house, and I had hope that I'd be able to get passed him soon, until he stopped somewhere along he way.

He just so happened to stop at the little work station that I had been using, and picked up a little book. At first, I hadn't a clue what it was. Then I remembered. I had left the sketch of Toothless and the list of things needed for his tail on the table. I had no doubt that was what my father now held in his hands.

I wonder if he thought anything of it as he studied it closely. I hoped not. It seemed for the first time in a long time that luck was with me, as my father placed the notebook back on the table, thinking it was nothing more than a petty drawing.

Finally, after what had felt like ages, he went inside, giving me the opportunity to grab my notebook and get to the forest.

I ran as fast as I could, despite the heaviness of the object in my arms. I wanted to put as much distance between me and my father as possible. I still hadn't forgotten about what happened last night.

I reached the forest in no time, continuing on until I found Toothless.

"Hey, bud," I greeted, slightly winded from running. He replied with a strange sort of bark, of which I was pretty sure only a dragon could make.

"I think I've found a way for you to be able to fly again," I said. Toothless' ears perked up at that.

"I'm going to need to see your tail," I told him.

He just curled his tail around his body protectively, refusing to let me see it.

"Come on, Toothless. Don't you trust me?" I asked. He paused for a moment, as if contemplating his answer, before grunting and placing his tail in front of me.

I chuckled before lying the fake tail fin next to his tail.

"Now just hold still," I said, beginning to strap the tail fin on. Before I could pull the strap tight, Toothless moved his tail away.

I glanced up at him, but he was looking in a different direction, seemingly innocent. I rolled my eyes before readjusting the strap and once again attempting to pull it tight, only to have Toothless swish his tail again.

"Really Toothless," I said. He just looked at me innocently, as if he hadn't been messing about a minute prior.

"Fine," I said, moving to sit on his tail in an attempt to keep it still.

As Toothless jolted his tail this way and that to try and shake me off, I quickly pulled the strap tightly around his tail. He glanced back at me as I studied his tail.

"Looks good. Could have been worse," I mumbled to myself, but I was quickly cut off when I was suddenly high above the ground. Toothless was flying. Or at least, he was trying to.

We started to descend at an alarming rate, and I couldn't quite figure out why. But I was going to have to figure it out quickly, or we'd both smack into the ground.

I noticed that the tail fin I had made was flapping wildly in the wind. I pulled on it to try and get it open, but it was hard to work against the wind.

The ground was getting closer and closer. I pulled harder. Just as we were about to smack into the ground, I managed to pull the tail fin open and Toothless flew up into the air.

"Yes!" I shouted in victory, "I did it!"

Before I knew what was going on, I was falling. Right into a pond.

"Ahhh!" I yelled until I fell beneath the water's surface.

I broke the surface of the water just in time to see Toothless fall into the pond as well. What a terrific first flight.

 ** _And here's chapter eleven! Sorry it's kind of sort of late. I usually write the chapters the night before and post them as soon as I wake up in the morning, but I didn't get to finish this one last night so I had to write it after school. But that's not going to be a problem anymore because today is the last day of school! Yay! Finally it's summer! I hope you guys have enjoyed your last days of school, or will enjoy them for those of you who aren't finished yet. Anyway, got to go and sleep because sleep deprivation, so bye!_**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**_Disclaimer: I don't own it, just except it already!_**

The next morning I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock ringing. Time for school. At least it was Friday.

I tossed the warm covers off of my body and got up to get dressed. After rummaging through my closet, I found a nice shirt and some jeans to wear. I grabbed them up and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

I quickly washed up and was out in five minutes, slipping on my clothes and brushing my teeth. I ran a brush through my hair before grabbing my bag and walking out the door. I didn't bother saying goodbye to my father this morning as I walked out the door and headed in the direction of the high school.

After half an hour of walking, I arrived on school grounds, heading straight for the school building.

Quickly grabbing everything I needed for first period, I headed to history class, arriving without a second to spare. I sat down in the very back of the classroom, pulling out my textbook. I also pulled out my notebook.

I opened it to the page with the drawing of Toothless, staring at the picture unseeingly. I was thinking of how I could possibly change the position of his tail without sitting right on it. I'd also have to make a saddle, hopefully Toothless wouldn't mind much. I suppose I could just tie a rope to it and see if that works. Sounds like a plan.

I began wondering what other kind of unique abilities Toothless may posses when Mr. Madden walked into the classroom.

"Good morning, class." He greeted in a not-so-genuine tone, "Today we will be continuing our lesson from yesterday, so please open your textbooks to the proper page."

I opened to the right page, though I hardly remembered the lesson from yesterday. I hadn't been paying much attention, and I probably wouldn't be today. It's not like I didn't try to focus on the lesson, my brain just drifted off to different topics without my permission. My father used to say that I didn't really try to focus on anything, but I know I tried harder than anything to. My brain just won't focus on something I'm not interested in. He didn't know what he was talking about.

At the moment I was daydreaming about attempting to put a saddle on Toothless' back, chuckling silently to myself when I envisioned his reaction.

"Mr. Haddock?" Mr. Madden called on me to answer a question that I hadn't heard.

"Yes, s-sir," I stuttered out of habit. Sometimes my tongue likes to get in the way when I speak, I'm pretty sure it's a medical condition.

"Would you like to answer the question?" He asked, though it was clear that he wasn't giving me much of a choice.

"I-I'm sorry sir, I didn't q-quite catch what you asked," I said.

"It would do you well to pay attention, Mr. Haddock," Mr. Madden said in a bitter tone. I'm feeling the love.

"Sorry, sir," I apologized as Mr. Madden called on another student to answer the question.

I tried to listen to Mr. Madden's advice and pay attention, but it wasn't long before I was once again swept up in my own thoughts, but this time they were directed at my father.

I kept replaying the whole drunk scene over and over again in my head. I couldn't stop.

It felt like the period had only just started when the bell rang.

"Have a good rest of your day, class!" Mr. Madden called as the students filed out of the door, on their way to second period.

I was one of the last few out of the door, but before I could get out, I was called back into the classroom by Mr. Madden.

"Mr. Haddock," he started, "I don't appreciate you daydreaming during my lesson."

"I'm sorry, sir. I tried to pay attention, I really did, but lately I've have a lot to think about," I tried to explain. What with the issue with my father and the whole dragon thing going on, I hardly have enough time to think for myself.

"Well perhaps you should sort out your priorities, Mr. Haddock, seeing as you've also forgotten to do last night's homework," he said, pointing to a stack of completed worksheets on his desk. When were we given homework?

"I'm sorry, sir. I-it won't h-happen again," I promised.

"It had better not. You are dismissed," he said.

I quickly exited, having to run to math class just to make it on time. Honestly, I was just relived to be out of Mr. Madden's classroom. That man creeped me out more than I cared to explain. I just felt like there was something not right about him. Like, "guy-murders-his-entire-family-while-they-sleep" kind of creepy. I hoped that I was wrong.

 ** _Hey peoples! Sorry I didn't update on Saturday or Sunday, but I have decided that I will take a break from writing on the weekends, mostly because I'm usually really busy with napping and stuff. I'm just kidding! But, yes, I usually do things on the weekends so I'll only be updating these chapter Monday through Friday. I hope you don't mine! Bye!_**


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON! THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!_**

The rest of the day seemed to fly by, until I got to lunch. I honestly didn't feel like speaking to Astrid and her friends. They were nice and all, I just didn't feel like being bombarded with questions that I had no intention of answering. So today I decided that I would eat out.

I snuck out of the school building as soon as the lunch bell rang. Nobody was at the front doors, the cafeteria was in a completely different direction, and none of the teachers went that way during lunch period anyway. I was perfectly safe.

I headed in the direction of the woods, soon coming to the first row of trees. When I reached them, I stopped. I felt strange, as if I were being watched. Or followed.

I turned around in a complete circle, looking carefully at every spot that could have been potentially hiding a person. I saw no one.

"You're so paranoid," I muttered to myself, shaking off the feeling as nothing more than paranoia. But the feeling never went away, even as I caught a glimpse of Toothless' scaly, black tail through the trees.

"Hey, bud," I greeted as I approached the spot I had just seen him. He wasn't there.

"Toothless! Where did you go?" I asked aloud.

I heard leaves crunching under someone's feet somewhere close by.

"Toothless?" I called out.

"Who's Toothless," a very familiar voice asked from just out of sight.

"Astrid?" I asked, bewildered. So there was someone following me. She stepped out of the trees, revealing herself.

"Why were you following me?!" I yelled.

"Well, you were acting all suspicious and I wanted to know why," she answered.

"Well, go back! It's none of your business what I'm doing," I said, glancing around me to make sure that Toothless was nowhere in sight.

"It's my business if I say it's my business," she objected.

"That's not how it works! Now leave!" I shouted, becoming frustrated with her stubbornness.

"You can't tell me what to do!" She argued.

"I just did! Now leave me alone!" I yelled at her. Why couldn't she just leave already?

"I can go wherever I want whenever I want! And you can't tell me otherwise!" She screamed. That's when I heard it, Toothless' roar.

"What was that?" She asked, suddenly producing a pocket knife.

"Why do you have a knife!" I shouted, alarmed. That's when Toothless burst out of the trees, heading straight for us.

"The dragon!" Astrid yelled, "Get down!"

She pulled me to the ground, raising her knife above her head.

"No!" I screamed, knocking the pocket knife out of her hand before she could harm Toothless with it.

"What are you-" she never got to finish her question.

"Stop!" I shouted, placing a hand on Toothless's nose and another in front of Astrid to keep them apart.

"Watch out! It might bite your arm off!" Astrid shrieked.

"He's not going to do anything. You just scared him is all," I said.

"I scared him?" Astrid asked, "Who is him?"

"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid," I introduced them.

"That's the dragon I saw the other day! How did you find it? Do you know who the rider-"

"I was the rider, Astrid," I said.

"You were the dragon rider? You mean to tell me that you rode a dragon?" She asked, as if she could hardly believe it.

"Well, yeah, maybe a little," was all I said.

"How did you find it?" She asked curiously.

"I found him that day I first met you guys. When I ran out…" I trail off. She knew the rest of the story.

"We have to tell someone! The things that this thing could tell us! And there could be more!" Astrid said.

"No way!" I said immediately, "I'm not letting some scientist experiment on Toothless!"

"Come on, Hiccup! This is huge! You're not going to tell the government about this discovery, all to protect your pet dragon!" Astrid said.

"Yes," I said with as much seriousness I could. I would not let her take away my only friend.

"Okay," she said, finally seeming to understand the importance of this situation, "then what do we do?"

"There is no we about it. You're going to go back to school and pretend none of this ever happened. You've found your dragon rider, now just leave me alone," I said, turning around and leading Toothless away from Astrid. She didn't follow.

 ** _And chapter thirteen is up! I thought that this was a pretty good chapter, but you guys tell me what you thought of it down in the comments! Thanks for reading, bye!_**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**_Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it._**

Hours had passed since my encounter with Astrid. I was at home now, wondering what to do about her. At least I was being productive whilst I was wondering, constructing a saddle out of materials that I had gathered earlier.

The saddle wasn't too hard to make, and I finished it quite quickly. Wanting to get my mind off of things for a little while, I decided to go test it out.

I found Toothless not far from where I had left him.

"Hey, bud," I greeted. Before I could say anything else, Toothless noticed the saddle I was carrying and darted away, shaking his head.

"Oh, come on Toothless! You're going to have to wear this if you want to fly again," I said. He paused for a moment, seeming to consider what I had said, before rolling his big, green eyes and walking toward me.

I put the saddle on his back before pulling out a rope and attaching it to his new tail fin.

"There," I said as I finished, "Hopefully this will work."

I climb into the saddle and sat down, grabbing the rope.

"Okay, let's try this out," I said. Toothless spread his wings and took off. I tried to pull the rope while I hung on to the saddle, but it didn't seem to be working. Turns out rope didn't help the situation.

"Ugh," I groaned from the ground where Toothless had fallen. Didn't help at all.

After many more failed attempts at flying, we finally succeeded. I could easily use my foot to change the tail fin position, and I was attached to the saddle with a clip so that I wouldn't fall off quite so easily. The perfect design.

"Okay, bud, let's take this nice and slow," I said to Toothless as he prepared to take off once again, hopefully to actually fly.

Flapping his wings, Toothless was off the ground and in the sky. He flew straight for a little bit, easy flying.

"Okay, position three, no four," I corrected myself, changing his tail position according to my cheat sheet.

We flew passed some rocks, bumping into a few do to my slow reflexes.

"Sorry, my fault," I said, receiving a slap to the face from Toothless.

"I know, I know. Position four, I mean three," I said, changing Toothless' tail position.

"It's amazing up here," I said. It really was. Until my cheat sheet blew away in the wind.

"Stop, stop!" I yelled, reaching out to grab the flying piece of paper. Just as I grabbed hold of it, I felt myself falling.

Sometime during my struggle to grab the troublesome piece of paper, the clip that had secured me to Toothless' saddle had come off. We were both falling.

 ** _Here's chapter fourteen! I'm sorry about not updating yesterday, I was busy with stuff. I'm sorry! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's not very different from the movie. Don't worry though, it will eventually be just my own ideas. Soon, very soon. Once again, I'm sorry that this is late. I hope you enjoyed, tell me all about it in the comments! Bye!_**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**_Disclaimer: I don't own it._**

"Toothless!" I yelled. The dragon flailed around in the air, having just as much trouble as me.

"Level out! Face your feet toward the ground!" I instructed, having to yell to be heard over the wind that was rushing past my face. Toothless did as I said, flipping himself around in the air.

"Good," I said, "now I just- got it!" I exclaimed as I grabbed hold of Toothless and sat back down in the saddle, clipping the safety clip back in place.

"Gah!" I exclaimed, noticing that we had somehow ended up in the town. I pulled as hard as I could upwards, trying to avoiding hitting the ground below.

It was getting dark out, which I suppose was a good thing, considering not many people would be out after dark, and Toothless was less noticeable at night.

We had finally managed to pull up and fly straight, instead of flying into the ground. Just as I thought everything was fine, buildings suddenly appeared out of the darkness in front of us.

I pulled the cheat sheet from my mouth, trying to read what it said as it flap about in the wind. It was impossible to read while we were going so fast.

Quickly making a decision, I tossed the paper behind me and it blew away with the wind. I could do this.

Just as we neared the first building, I switched Toothless's tail position, allowing him to steer clear of it.

We narrowly avoided smashing into several other buildings before reaching the last one. Soon we'd be out of this mess.

That's when I noticed that the final building just so happened to be the high school. It made me nervous to go anywhere near it, but then I remembered that it was Friday and late at night. There was probably nobody there.

I didn't have much time to think about it anyway, as it only took a few seconds to reach. Toothless quickly veered around it and we were on our way out of the city.

But something in the back of my mind was bugging me. I could have sworn that, just as we passed a window near the top floor, I had seen someone standing there. It was too hard to really be sure, we passed the building so quickly I hardly got a glimpse of what was inside, but I couldn't help but worry.

"You're so paranoid," I muttered to myself. But I couldn't help but notice that I had said the same thing when I had thought someone was following me.

And I had been wrong.

 ** _Hey guys, here's chapter fifteen! Sorry that it's been such a long time since I last updated, I've just been really busy and I didn't really know what to do with this story until now. Sorry that the chapter is short as well, but it just kind of turned out that way. I will try my very hardest to make the next chapter much longer and post it as soon as I can. Anyway, I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter, I liked writing it. Tell me what you thought about it, even if what you thought it was bad. I want to know what all of you think! Bye!_**


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON! CONTINUE ON WITH YOUR LIVES PEOPLE!_**

After flying Toothless back to the hidden forest, I returned home to an empty driveway. That was strange, considering it was long after dark and my father was meant to be home long before. Where could he have been?

I decided to retire to my room for the night, feeling exhausted from the previous flight. I climbed into bed without taking off my clothes, too tired to care at the moment. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

-This is Mr. Line Break-

I was awoken at some time during the night by a loud thump coming from the kitchen. I figured that it was just my father getting home from work late, and I settled back down beneath the soft, warm covers and attempted to fall asleep once more.

I was just on the edge of unconscious when another thump came from the kitchen, this one even louder. Realizing that I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep anytime soon, I threw the covers off of me and went down stairs to see what was going on, quickly glancing at the clock on my way out, which read 1:24am.

As I approached the bottom step, I could see that the kitchen light was on. What was my father doing in the kitchen this late at night? Knowing fully well that this could go horribly wrong, I decided that it would be best to just head back up to my room and try to fall asleep again. Or at least pretend that I was asleep.

Just as I cleared the top step, I heard heavy footsteps behind me.

"Hiccup!" My father's drunken voice rang out in the near darkness.

I slowly turned to face the sound of the voice, wishing that I had just stayed in my bedroom. Why couldn't I have just ignored the sound?

"Y-yes, dad?" I said, walking cautiously down the steps to the floor below. I could just barely make out my father's intimidating figure in the light coming from the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" He asked. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to say something that I shouldn't and have to pay the price. I probably would have been better off speaking.

"Answer me when I'm talking to you!" My father shouted angrily, and before I could process what was happening, I was on the floor and my left cheek stung considerably so. I cried out in pain, but still my lips formed no words to answer my father's question.

"Answer me!" He screamed, louder this time. I curled into a ball, scared of what might happen now that he was infuriated. I silently prayed to every god that I could think of in every way that I could think of. My prayers went unanswered.

My feet were no longer touching the ground, and I was face to face with my angry father.

"You are a sorry excuse for a human being! What makes you think that you can ignore me!" I had never seen my father this angry before. It was terrifying.

A part of me hoped that he would just toss me outside like the last time. I could deal with sleeping outside again, especially if Toothless was with me. But that never happened.

I was once again back on the ground, only processing after several seconds that I had be thrown forcefully onto the hardwood floor.

"Get up!" My father yelled. I struggled to listen to his demand, but my legs no longer seemed to work and I hardly made it to my knees.

"I said get up!" He yelled louder. Before I could even register what he had said, as my brain seemed to be working quite slowly now, a fist had connected with my right eye, and the force of the punch knocked me onto my back.

"Get out of my sight, you mistake," my father said, turning his back to me. His words hurt more than his punches, and I felt as though I could hardly breathe.

"I said get out of my sight!" He yelled. The yelling seemed to get my brain working again and I scrambled up from the floor and up the stairs to the safety of my room. Just to be safe, I locked the door behind me. I didn't want my drunken father to come busting into my room when I was asleep and hitting me more.

I collapsed on my bed, exhaustion overtaking me. I didn't even bother to pull back the blankets or lie on the pillow. I just plunked myself down on my bed and I was out cold. I let unconsciousness take me willingly, eager to leave this horrid world behind.

 ** _And here is chapter sixteen! Sorry it's kind of shortish, but I do believe it is a bit longer than the last chapter. Sorry if it's not! I do, however, hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you thought about it down in the comments! I didn't exactly enjoy writing it, but it had to be done. Well, gotta go so, bye!_**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT AND WILL NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON! I AM SORRY, IT DISAPPOINTS ME TOO!_**

I was awoken by a sharp pain in my, well, everything. Every part of my body seemed to ache, and I felt like I never wanted to move again. Carefully turning over on my side, wincing in the process despite my caution, I glanced at the clock that resided on my bedside table. It read 2:10pm.

"What!" I yelled in surprise, jolting slightly, causing my ribs to ache. I gripped my side, hissing in pain. I curled in on myself, trying to hide from the inescapable pain. What had happened?

The memories from last night came rushing back to me. The noise downstairs, seeing the kitchen light on, spotting my father, attempting to sneak back up the stairs without being seen, him calling me back, him getting angry, him...

I stop the thought before it could continue. I didn't want to remember that part, and I tried in vain to repress the thought.

I carefully stood up, limping over to the door that led out of my bedroom and into the bathroom.

I peered at myself in the mirror, immediately noticing that my right eye was now a purplish black color. I also took note of the small bruise on my left cheek, though it was nowhere near as large and dark as the one over my eye.

I put most of my weight on my right leg, because my left leg hurt considerably. I sat on the edge of the bath tub and pulled up my pant leg to examine it. There was no swelling, so it wasn't broken, and I don't think it was sprained either, though I knew very little about medical care. I decided to let it be. It would heal on its own time.

I lifted up my shirt and looked at my chest. Several dark purple bruises had formed over my ribs, and I could hardly breathe without them hurting. I hoped that they weren't broken, and with further examination, I discovered that they weren't. They were just badly bruised. That was a good thing, I suppose.

I felt so exhausted, and all I really wanted to do was go back to sleep. So that's what I did. A part of me kept saying that there was something that I was forgetting to do, but I was too tired and hurt to care at the moment. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed for the rest of the day.

-This is Mr. Line Break-

The next time I woke up, the sky was dark. There wasn't a single star to be seen and the moon was hidden from view.

I sat up and tried to make out my surroundings, soon realizing that I was still in my room. The only thing that was remotely clear in the near darkness was the glowing numbers on the clock beside me. They read 9:27pm. How long had I been asleep?

I got up slowly and peeked out the window, quickly taking notice of the car that sat outside. My father was home. Knowing better than to go back down there, I curled up in my bed and tried to fall back asleep. I had no such luck.

My eyes refused to stay closed, I couldn't sleep. I had been sleeping all day. Well, I wasn't going downstairs, so my only option was to just lay quietly in my bed, boring myself to death. I didn't want to risk getting up, incase my father heard me and came upstairs.

And that's what went on for most of the night, me lying and staring at my incredibly boring ceiling and trying to be as quiet as the wind outside.

 ** _Hey guys! Here is chapter seventeen! I know it's not much, but I wanted to update now because I'm leaving for vacation today and I might not be able to update for a week. I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I will try to update while I'm away, but I wanted to post this just incase. Well, gotta go so, bye!_**


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON! Don't worry though, I'll find a way to someday._**

At some point during my oath of silence, I must have fallen asleep, though I wasn't quite sure how that was possible, considering I had slept for forever and a day.

When I woke up again, it was still nighttime. The numbers on the clocked glowed brightly, reading 12:37am. I didn't feel the least bit tired anymore, and I didn't know what to do.

My stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I hadn't eaten a single thing in over twenty-four hours. I was hesitant to go down stairs, fearing that my father would be down there, but eventually my hunger drove me out of my bedroom and down the steps.

All the lights were out, a sign that my father was not awake.

"Or not here at all," I whispered to myself as I peaked outside and saw no car.

I made my way to the kitchen and pulled open one of the cabinets. All that was there was a box of stale crackers. I moved to the next one, which was empty. I pulled open the last one, finding a nearly empty box of Cheerios. I pulled the box down and grabbed myself a bowl. After pouring the Cheerios in the bowl, I opened the fridge to find that we had no milk. Dry cereal it is.

I threw the empty cereal box in the trash and took the bowl upstairs to my room, not wanting to be in the kitchen when my father returned home.

By the time I had finished my cereal, it was 1:19am. My mind wondered to Toothless. When was the last time I had seen him. I had flew with him on Friday, then I had slept threw an entire day afterwards, Saturday. So now it was Sunday. It had been nearly two days since I had last seen him. Well, a day and a half.

I'd have to check up on him today, when it wasn't 1:00 in the morning. Hopefully my father would be gone by then. And hopefully he wouldn't be back until I was safely back up in my room.

As I lay staring up at the ceiling, I thought about all the things that had happened in the last few days. I had met a group of people and freak out just because they had asked me what my name was, leading to me running out of the school building and into the woods, where I discovered a dragon. And after befriending the dragon and naming it, one of the people from said group followed me to it and saw it. And while I was flying that same day, a nearly crashed and ended up flying past a school building, where someone may or may not have seen me. Not to mention my father kept coming home drunk and repeatedly hitting me, and I had no way of stopping it.

Wasn't my life just going fantastically? At least one good thing had come from this whole mess. I had finally managed to make a friend, even if said friend wasn't exactly human.

 ** _Finally another chapter! Sorry it took so long! I tried writing this chapter while I was on vacation, but I didn't really get much time to and when I did have time I didn't know what to really write. But I'm back home now and I have finally succeeded in writing chapter eighteen! I hope you all enjoyed it and please tell me what you thought about it down in the comments! Bye!_**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON!_**

Time seemed to crawl by slowly. Minutes felt like hours while I waited in silence for the morning to arrive, hopefully before my father did.

I tried going back to sleep, but I was hardly tired anymore, and the thought of my father coming home without me knowing kept my eyes wide open.

In the silence, that was only disturbed by the quiet hum of the crickets outside, my mind played through everything that had led up to this point, before and after the events that had led up to me meeting Toothless.

Questions floated around inside my head like thousands of buzzing flies, each one flying away before I could fully understand it, only to be immediately replaced by another that left just as quickly.

What was I going to do about Astrid? What would happen to Toothless? Was I the only person who knew about dragons? Had there really been a person that had seen me the other day?

The questions kept coming, each one just as confusing as the one before it. As the questions were coming to a stop, they started to grow further and further apart in my mind. The last question was the one that really stuck in my head.

What did I do to deserve my father's abuse?

I feared the answer to this question more than I cared to admit. I didn't think I wanted the answer.

I sat up straight in bed, throwing the covers off and setting my feet on the floor. I couldn't stay in this room any longer, it was driving me insane.

I pulled open my bedroom door and quietly made my way downstairs. A quick glimpse out the window assured me that my father had yet to return home, and for that I was thankful.

My plan to wait until morning to see Toothless no longer applied, I just couldn't sit in that room anymore and wait for my father to come home, most likely drunk.

I pulled on my shoes and slipped on a jacket before heading out into the cool night air. I knew the way to the crater by heart now, seeing as I had visited it more times than I could really remember.

In hardly anytime at all I had arrived and was soon greeted by Toothless, who barked and yipped in a way only dragons can, seemly questioning where I had been all this time.

"Sorry, bud. I was a bit busy at home," I shivered slightly at the memory, glad that it was dark so Toothless wouldn't notice.

It would be day soon, I could already see the sky becoming lighter. I pet Toothless on the head, glad to have him as company.

I wished that I had brought my riding gear so that I could have flown with Toothless, but I had left it behind in my rush to get away from my house before my father got home. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of my father returning home before I had disappeared.

Toothless looked up at me curiously before wrapping himself around me to shield me from the cold. I guess he had mistaken my shiver of fear for one caused by lack of warmth. I was kind of cold anyway, though it had been the farthest thing from my mind at the time.

"Thanks, bud," I thanked him anyway. He purred, his way of saying, "You're welcome."

A part of me wondered if I could just live out here with Toothless and hide from my problems, but another part of me, the more rational part, said that I probably wouldn't survive that long and Astrid would most likely know where I had gone anyway.

"A guy can dream," I muttered to myself.

There was a shuffling sound off to my right, and Toothless was instantly alert, standing up and narrowing his eyes.

I glanced in the direction of the noise, a million different ideas of what could possibly be looming in the darkness running through my head.

Was it another dragon? Some kind of beast that I had never heard of but could easily ripped me apart with it's huge fangs? Maybe it was Astrid? What if it was my father come to drag me back to the house for going off without his permission?

Nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. Nothing at all.

 ** _And here is chapter nineteen! Who or what do you think is going to come out of the trees? Leave a comment and tell me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it's a tad bit short! Bye!_**


	21. Chapter Twenty

**_Disclaimer: Nope… Still don't own it._**

A small dragon, no bigger than a full grown house cat, scrambled out from the trees and underbrush. It was a yellowy-green color with a reddish-brown covering its wings, head, and tail. It had brownish horns on its head and flimsy spikes of the same color trailing from the top of its head all the way down to the tip of its tail.

The dragon dashed passed me and Toothless and kept running. It wasn't nearly as threatening as the much larger dragon that was chasing it. This dragon seemed to notice us, skidding to a halt and poising for an attack.

The dragon was colored blue except for its underbelly, which was mostly white. On its head spikes were coming out at all different angles and a large horn type thing adorn the tip of its nose. On its tail were thousands of sharp spikes colored in a pattern of blue and yellow that bristled in defense.

Toothless snarled threateningly at the other dragon, who growled as well. The smaller dragon suddenly appeared by the other's side as if it had been there all along, scratching the ground like a bull preparing to charge.

My breath caught in my throat and my heart race a million miles a minute. I was frozen. This dragon could kill me, or worse, Toothless.

"Steadfast! Scout!" I voice called, halting the strange dragons in their attack. The larger of the two turned its head in the direction the voice had come from as the other jump on its back and let out an excited yip of sorts. Toothless looked as confused I as did.

Suddenly, a boy no older than seventeen emerged from the same spot the two dragons had moments ago. Sticks and leaves of all sizes clung to his jet black hair. At first, he didn't seem to notice us.

"There you guys are! I've been looking everywhere- Who are you?" This question was directed at me.

"I could ask you the same thing," was my answer. His grey eyes fell on Toothless.

"Woah! You have a Night Fury?" He asked, astonished.

"A what?" I asked.

"That dragon of your's, it's a Night Fury," he explained, "I didn't know there were any left."

"What are you talking about?" I asked warily, still cautious of this stranger.

"Don't you know what type of dragon he is?" The boy asked.

"I didn't know there w-were different types," And here we go with the stuttering.

"How can you not know about the different types of dragons if you're friends with one?" He inquired.

"I-I haven't been friends with him that long," I explained.

"Well, he seems to be pretty protective of you for you not having known each other long," the boy stated.

"Well, you don't know me or my dragon," I said.

"Right, sorry. My name is Grayson Jedediah Michaels, but my friends just call me Grayson. And these two here are Steadfast," he pointed to the larger dragon, "and Scout!" He motioned to the smaller of the two, which was now perched on his shoulder like a parrot, "What's your name?"

"Oh, well, um, I-I'm Hiccup," I paused for the insult that never came, "And this is Toothless," I pointed at Toothless.

"What happened to your face?" Grayson asked, "Did you get into a fight or something?"

"Yeah, s-something like that."

Grayson squinted his eyes at me, as if trying to remember something.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked.

"N-not that I know of," I answered. Curse my failure to speak without stumbling over my words.

He snapped his fingers, "I know! You're that kid at the school that Tyler always messes with!"

"Oh," I muttered to myself. Nice to know that that's how everyone thinks of me.

"I didn't mean it like that," Grayson said apologetically, "I don't really like Tyler that much either. He's just a bully."

"Yeah, he is," I agreed.

"This is so cool!" He said excitedly.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"That there's another person who knows about dragons! I thought I was the only one, or at least the only one around here," he said.

"I thought the same thing," I remarked.

"Woah," Grayson said suddenly, his eyes on Toothless's tail, "What happened there?"

"I don't know, I found him like that," I answered.

"Did you make that?" He pointed to the replacement tail fin.

"Yeah," I said.

"How did you build something like that! I would have gotten bored or confused. Or both," Grayson stated.

"I just drew a diagram of Toothless and his missing tail fin and made a new one out of spare parts that I found in my shed," I replied.

"Wow, you're good," he said.

"Thanks."

"You know what we should do?!" He asked excitedly, moving from one topic to another easily.

"What?"

"We should have a race!" He declared.

"If you want to," I said.

"Yes! Come on! From here to the edge of town and back again! First to return wins the race!" Everything Grayson said seemed as though it should end in an exclamation point. Everything word that come out of his mouth was said with excitement and a smile. He seemed like the kind of person that everyone would want to be around. I liked it.

"You're on," I accepted the challenge, climbing into the saddle strapped to Toothless' back and prepared to race. Grayson jumped on Steadfast's back, no saddle or reins attached.

"Let's do this thing!" He yelled enthusiastically.

"Ready. Set. Race!" And we were off, speeding through the air side by side. Scout flew behind Steadfast, straining to keep up. For the first time in what had felt like forever, I truly laughed.

 ** _And here's chapter twenty! Wow, twenty chapters. I love it! What do you think of Grayson, Steadfast, and Scout? Tell me down in the comments! Also, incase any of you are confused, Steadfast and Scout are both boys. Anyway, bye!_**


	22. Chapter Twenty-One

**_Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN IT!_**

Also, HanyouExorcistAlchemist48, yes Steadfast is a Deadly Nadder and Scout is a Terrible Terror. Anyway, on with the story!

"Wow, you're good," I said as Toothless and I landed beside Steadfast and Grayson, who had won the race.

"You're not bad yourself, for a beginner," Grayson replied, climbing down from Steadfast's back to lean against his side, Scout resting beside him.

"How long have you known about dragons?" I asked, dismounting Toothless and sitting down close to his head.

"Quite a few years now. I think I first discovered Scout here when I was about twelve. He had an injured wing," Grayson explained, smiling fondly at Scout.

"How do you know so much about them, like the different types and what their all called?" I questioned, wanting to learn as much as I could.

"I studied them for a long time, read everything I could about them. Turns out I hadn't been the first to discover them. Or the last," he grinned at me, "I also spent a lot of time with them up close. Especially Scout and Steadfast."

"Why do they get along so well? Their so different," I stated.

"They were friends before I came along, in fact Steadfast was there when I found Scout, trying to help him or something like that. Their basically attached at the hip. They might as well be a Zippleback," when I gave him a confused look, he said, "It's a dragon with two heads."

"Didn't your parents ever wonder where you were all the time?" I wondered aloud.

"Nah, I live with my grandma and she doesn't really notice most of the time," he said.

I wanted to ask what had happened to his parents, but I decided that it was not my place to pry into such things, especially since I hardly knew this guy.

"That tail fin you made is pretty freaking cool," Grayson said out of the blue. I was beginning to think this was a normal thing for him, randomly changing the subject without even meaning to.

"Yeah, I guess it kind of is," I agreed, glancing back at the piece of leather material.

"How do you even make that kind of stuff?" He asked.

"Well, I had something to go off of, a drawing of Toothless, and I just kind of went from there," I said.

"My dad came home sometime while I was working on it and I had to-" I cut myself off. My dad.

"I, uh, have to go," I said to Grayson and I stood up from my spot next to Toothless's head.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Grayson asked.

"Yeah, right after school! I demand a rematch!" I joked, though I the chuckle I gave was not a real one.

"I'll still win!" Grayson called as I disappeared in the trees.

\- Mr. LineBreak -

As I approached my house, I immediately took notice of the car parked out front. I froze in my tracks, terrified of what could be waiting on the inside of that house.

Maybe I could sneak into my bedroom and pretend I had been there all along. Too bad my bedroom was on the second floor, and I couldn't exactly fly without Toothless. I took a deep breath and walked up the front steps and through the door.

The living room was devoid of any other living thing. I sighed in relief, thinking that I might be able to sneak up to my room after all. I shut the door quietly behind me and made for the stairs. I had just reached the second step when I heard footsteps coming from the kitchen, paralyzing my limbs, and no matter how hard I tried to move them, they wouldn't cooperate.

"Hiccup?" It was my father.

I turned around slowly to face him, not really wanting to but knowing I had know choice.

"H-hey, dad," I greeted, my voice shaking slightly.

"Where have you been? I went upstairs to check on you and you weren't there," he said. He didn't seem drunk, but I wasn't going to let my guard down just yet.

"Just out f-for a little while, explor-exploring," I quickly responded. It wasn't really a lie, just not the complete truth.

"At 8:00 in the morning?" He questioned.

"Well, y-you know what they say, the early bird gets the worm. I mean, I wasn't exactly eating worms but, you know," I rambled on.

"Hiccup, what's wrong with you?" He asked, looking worried. Sure, he was worried when he wasn't drunk.

"N-nothing, just a bit tired is all, what with the getting up early and all that. I-I think I'll go take a nap," I said, turning around and running up the stairs before my father could object.

As I closed the door behind me, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relieved that the encounter was finally over. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about this whole problem with my father, but I knew that I had school tomorrow and I was going to have to think of something to do about it.

I sat on my bed, my thoughts drifting to the friend that I had made today. It made me feel good to have someone else to share this whole secret with, and someone who know a lot about that secret was even better.

Hopefully he could help me figure all of this out and tell me what to do about Astrid, though I doubt Grayson was stupid enough to have gotten himself in the same situation. I'd have to deal with Astrid tomorrow, but I just didn't know how. I didn't want her to think I despised her, because I definitely didn't. So what was I going to do?

"Guess I'll just have to find out tomorrow," I said to myself. For now, I'd find something in my room to keep me busy for the rest of the day. Or maybe I'd just sneak out and fly with Toothless.

 ** _Hey guys! Here's chapter twenty-one! Sorry it took so long to write, I was a bit stuck on what to do for a while so I didn't post anything. Also, for those of you who think that I have forgotten about the whole person at the school seeing Hiccup riding Toothless, don't worry because I haven't. I plan on putting it in later in the story, I've got it all worked out. Also, I will most definitely NOT be shipping Hiccup and Grayson, they are just friends and may possible be close enough to consider one another brothers at some point. I just wanted to make that clear to those of you who thought that that might have been my intentions, because it most certainly is not. I don't make a character gay or lesbian when they weren't intended that way by the creators, sorry! And besides, I ship Hiccup and Astrid. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you thought about it down in the comments along with any other questions you might have! Bye!_**


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two

**_Disclaimer: DO. NOT. OWN. IT. THANK YOU!_**

 ** _P.s. HanyouExorcistAlchemist48, I guess you will just have to wait and find out. ;)_**

As it turns out, there was hardly anything to do while I was stuck in my own room. But I didn't want to leave the safety of my bedroom. I know that I had planned to possibly sneak out and fly with Toothless, but the thought of actually doing so scared me, even if my father wasn't drunk. He might still get mad, I don't really know.

So, I decided that I would just sit in my room and be bored all day. It was better than ending up with a couple of broken bones.

At least, that had been the plan. It changed things a bit when a certain dark-haired, grey-eyed friend of mine appeared outside my window accompanied by a Deadly Nadder and a Terrible Terror.

I threw open my window, shocked that Grayson was flying right next to it.

"What are you doing?!" I whisper-yelled.

"What does it look like I'm doing, riding a pony?" Grayson asked sarcastically.

"You're flying on a dragon in the middle of the day! Someone could see you!" I said.

"Relax, nobody'll notice," Grayson said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I'm sure no one will notice a ten foot long, bright blue dragon flying over town!" I yelled at him.

"Chill out! Nearly everyone in town went to that festival thingy today. We don't have anything to worry about!" Grayson explained.

"What festival thingy?" I inquired.

"That one that they have every year around this time. I don't know what it's about. I've never been," Grayson shrugged.

"Well, I know my dad didn't go, and I'm pretty sure he'd notice a giant, airborne reptile flying around his house!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down! I'll land Steadfast and meet you out front," Grayson said, flying away before I could say anything to object.

I groaned in frustration. I didn't want to have to face my father, who knows what could have happen while I was up here. He could have gotten drunk on whatever alcoholic beverage he had managed to drag home with him. But I didn't want to blow Grayson off, he was my first real human friend in a long time. I didn't want to lose that.

Having made up my mind, I took a deep breathe and slowly let it out before opening my bedroom door and going downstairs, hoping against hope that I would be able to walk out the front door fully intact and unharmed. But not all dreams come true.

 ** _A cliff hangar! What do you guys think is going to happen when Hiccup goes downstairs? Do you think that he'll run into his dad? And if so, do you think that he'll be drunk? Tell me down in the comments! See ya in the next chapter, bye!_**


	24. Chapter Twenty-Three

**_Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Well, I own Grayson, Steadfast, and Scout, but you get my point!_**

I quietly creeped down the stairs, desperately hoping that somehow I could sneak past my father unnoticed. It was all in vain.

As I placed my foot on the third step from the bottom, a loud creak resounded throughout the otherwise silent house.

I skipped the last couple of steps and darted toward the door. Needless to say, I didn't make it outside.

"Hiccup?" My father's voice asked from behind me. I slowly turned to face him.

"Hey, dad," I greeted nervously with a slight wave of my hand.

"What are you doing?" He asked suspiciously.

"Noth-nothing. Just going out f-for a walk is all," I replied, staring down at my feet.

"Why are you acting like that?" He questioned.

"Like what?" I asked, not looking up from the ground.

"Why are you stuttering and staring at your shoes like that?" He rephrased. I remained silent.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I-I'm fi-fine," I stuttered out.

"Don't lie to me," he said.

"I'm not," I stated simply.

"Hiccup, knock it off," he demanded.

"Knock what off?" I questioned.

"Tell me what's the matter," he said.

"Nothing is the matter."

"What is wrong with you?"

"Th-there's nothing wrong with me, dad! I'm just fi-ine! Can I leave now?" I asked.

"You can't leave until you tell me why you're acting like this!" My father raised his voice. I flinched slightly.

"I'm not acting like anything!" I yelled back, "Just leave me alone!"

I was caught of guard by my father slapping me in the face, the force of the impact throwing me to the ground. My hand immediately flew to the stinging area. I looked at my father in shock.

My father may have done a lot of terrible things while he was drunk, but I had never actually thought that he would do such things while he was sober. I had dared to hope that he wouldn't ever do something like that of his own free will. I guess I was wrong.

He looked like he was a bit surprised too, "Hiccup-"

"I've gotta go," I said, on my feet in an instant and out the door in another. I didn't look back, still cradling the wound on my cheek. When I brought my hand back, there was blood on it. I didn't know that people could hit that hard. I placed my hand back over the wound.

After everything that had happened inside, I had forgotten the reason I had wanted to come out here in the first place. Until I saw the giant dragon in my yard.

"Hey Grayson," I greeted halfheartedly.

"What was that?" Grayson asked.

"What?"

"What was all the screaming?"

"Oh, um, my dad didn't want me to go out is all, but I argued with him and it just kind of progressed from there," I said with a fake smile.

"Why are you holding your cheek like that?" He asked.

"Oh, I tripped on the last step and hit it on the floor. No big deal," I said as if it were nothing.

"Well, maybe you should clean it up a bit. Maybe even cover it up," Grayson said.

"Nah, it'll be fine. Let's just go get Toothless and we can have a rematch," I said.

"Okay, let's go!" Grayson said, pulling me up on Steadfast's back, though he seemed slightly less cheery than he had before. Hopefully Grayson would just let the subject of my injury go. Hopefully.

 ** _Hey guys! Here's chapter twenty-three! I know it's a bit short, like most of my chapters are, but I wanted to update today so this is what you got! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a comment down below about what you thought about it! See ya later! Bye!_**


	25. Author's Note

No, this is not another update. Sorry if you thought it was! D just like to thank Sonochu for your advice and critique. Id also like to say that reason for me not revealing Stoick's drinking problem is because I plan to reveal it in later chapters, it will not remain a secret forever. Also, I do plan on including the rest of the gang in this story soon, like when Hiccup returns to school. I have the Astrid problem and its possible solution all figured out. I will take your advice and try to combine my chapter to make them longer, but sometimes I make chapters short for a reason, maybe for a cliff hangar or because I feel that they would be better off at that length. But I will be making most of them longer, hopefully over a thousand words, not including author's notes. Thank you for your suggestions and for helping me make my story better. I just wanted to make some things clear about the story and why some things have been left out for the time being. So, it might take me longer to update but the chapters will be, for the most part, much longer. I hope that you will all continue reading even if it takes a week or two to update! See ya in the next chapter! Bye!


	26. Chapter Twenty-Four

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THIS MOVIE! CARRY ON!_**

When I returned home that evening, after quite a few dragon races against Grayson and several arguments about who had won, I was unsurprised to find that my father's car was nowhere to be seen, indicating that he was no longer home. Figures. It seemed that disappearing for hours on end was becoming a habit of his.

I can't say that I hadn't been expecting him to be gone, and a small part of me was happy that he was. But another part of me, much larger than the former, had been hoping that he would be here, completely sober and willing to face what he had done. I had never thought my father to be such a coward.

Now, I wasn't the type of person to get angry very easily. In fact, I'd probably won more arm-wrestling matches than I'd had an ill-temper. And the few times I had found myself irate, I was never much of a threat, usually just ignoring people and locking myself in my room for no more than an hour, if even that. The point is, I was not a very wrathful person.

But right then, with the thoughts of my father and what he had done, and the fact that he was not here to face his own mistakes, I felt the anger grow inside me like some dark, terrible storm.

I wanted to punch something, anything, be it a wall, a pillow, or even my father himself. I wanted to scream as loud as I could until my voice was gone and my throat was raw. I wanted to run as fast as I could until my lungs seared with pain and my knees buckled underneath of me. I just needed some way to release all of this anger that was building up inside of me.

I stomped up the stairs like an infuriated six year old, too livid to care that I was acting like a small child. As soon as I reached my bedroom door, I threw it open with all the force of an immensely irritated butterfly, becoming even more aggravated when I didn't quite accomplish the loud banging noise I had been trying to achieve.

I slammed the door closed even harder, this time causing a thunderous boom to resonate throughout the house. I sat down on my bed, grabbing my pillow and shoving my face into it. I screamed as loud and as long as I possible could, but even that seemed to hardly quench my anger.

Maybe I was being a tad bit unfair, after all I had pushed off facing several of my own mistakes longer than I should have, but at that moment, I didn't care. At that moment, all I wanted to do was be angry and not have to justify my actions. I just wanted to blame someone other than myself for a change, even though I knew that somehow it had to have been my own fault.

But all of that knowledge hadn't come into my head until after I was finished being enraged at everything in the world. I was blinded with rage, throwing anything and everything that was within my grasp. Pillows and blankets flew across the room, quickly followed by knickknacks that decorated the shelves and the bedside table. At one point I even remember throwing a lamp, though it was fortunately caught by the bed clothes.

When my was room was nearly bare, except for the quickly growing pile of things beside the door, I reached under my bed and felt around for something else to hurl across the room. After a moment of searching, my fingers curled around something soft. I pulled it up, already prepared to fling it at the wall, when I hesitated.

I stared at the object that I held in my hand, a small stuffed rabbit made of soft, brown fabric. It was slightly larger than my hand, from wrist to tallest finger, with droopy ears that were nearly as long. I remembered the day I had received it.

I was five years old and it was Christmas Eve. The ground was coated with a fresh blanket of glittering white snow and I had just been picked up from daycare. I was so excited, it was nearly Christmas! Even more exciting was the fact that I would be allowed to open a present tonight, one that my father bought me, as soon as I was home.

"Come on, Daddy! Drive faster!" I shouted excitedly from the back seat. I wanted to get home and open that present!

My father just chuckled, "Don't worry, Hiccup. We'll be home before you know it, and then you'll be able to open up your Christmas Eve present."

"Well, how are we supposed to get there at all with you driving like a snail!" I complained.

"We'll be there soon enough. You've just got to be patient," my father assured.

I grumbled quietly under my breath as I sat back in my seat, crossing my arms across my chest. I thought of all the things that my present could possibly be, and since I was so young and naïve, there were a lot of them. I pictured anything from a tree house to a giant water slide, and my excitement grew.

Finally, after what had felt like forever, my father pulled into the driveway of our home. I unbuckled my seatbelt and threw open the car door as fast as I possibly could before sprinting up to the front door, where I waited impatiently for my father.

He walked slowly up the driveway and unlocked the door for me. I burst into the house and quickly found a spot on the living room couch, fidgeting constantly with excitement.

It seemed like a whole other forever before my father met me there, present in hand. The box wasn't as humongous as I had pictured it, but that did little to lessen my excitement.

"Here you go, Hiccup," my father said, handing me the smallish box.

I hurriedly ripped into the seasonal wrapping paper that covered the box before tearing off the lid. Inside lay a brand new brown-and-white stuffed bunny. It wasn't a tree house or a giant water slide, but I couldn't have been happier when I saw it. I immediately picked it up in my hands and held it to my tiny chest in a sort of hug.

"I love it!" I yelled excitedly. My father smiled at my response to the the toy, ruffling my hair fondly.

"I'm glad you like it, Hiccup," he said, "Now off to bed with you! Santa Clause won't come if you're awake!"

I gasped, quickly standing up and running to the stairs. I didn't want Santa to skip my house!

"Goodnight!" My father shouted to me as I rushed to my bed.

"Goodnight!" I called back as I shut my bedroom door and crawled into bed.

I almost felt too exited to go to bed that night, but as I gripped my new stuffed bunny close to me, who I had now decided to call Benjamin after some rabbit in a cartoon I had seen, I fell asleep almost instantly.

I felt my eyes sting with tears as the memory faded from my mind. At first I had been expecting them to be tears of sadness, and I think at first that they were. But as they leaked out of my eyes and ran down my cheeks, I realized that they were tears of happiness.

I stared down at the stuffed rabbit in my hand, Benjamin, and hugged it tightly, just as I had the day I had first gotten it. It reminded me of times when everything was happy and when my father hadn't always come home drunk. It reminded me that he hadn't always been this way, and that maybe he wouldn't always be.

I could feel the corners of my lips twitch upwards in an almost smile. And that was close enough for me.

 ** _Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I was suffering from a bit of writer's block, we've all had it at some point. But here's the next chapter of A Friend! And hey, look at that! It's a decent length! Yay! Also, this story shouldn't take that much longer to update because I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with it from here on out. Saying that, it's probably going to be ending soon. I'd say that, at the most, there are no more than ten chapters left, which might seem like a lot, but it will probably go by pretty fast! Anyway, thanks for reading this installment of A Friend! Hope to see you in the next chapter as well as read your comments and reviews of this one! Bye!_**


	27. Chapter Twenty-Five

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own it, incase you hadn't realized that yet._**

I'm not quite sure when I feel asleep. It could have been while I was remembering that Christmas Eve, or it could have been long after. All I know is that when I woke up it was the next morning and my alarm clock was blaring from the place I had thrown it last night.

I turned over on my side, planning on savoring my last few moments in bed, when I rolled over on something. I pulled the thing out from underneath of me to find that it was the stuffed rabbit I had found yesterday. I smiled slightly before getting out of bed and on my feet.

I glanced at my bare bedside table, only to find that it wasn't completely devoid of any and all objects.

Sitting in the very center, was a half-full glass of water. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, not recalling ever having set it there in the first place. That's when I noticed just how parched I was. I decided that at some point during the blur that was my rage and sadness last night I must have set it there.

I grabbed the glass from where it sat on the table and took a sip, gulping it down much more quickly when I realized how good it felt to drink something. All too soon, the water was gone. Oh well, I had to get ready for school anyway.

Today was going to be a very eventful day, though I couldn't decide just yet if that was a good thing or not.

As I walked to school that morning, I thought. I didn't think about anything in particular, I just thought, allowing my mind to roam, not caring how long I stayed on each thought. Maybe I should do that more often, just allow my mind to wonder. It was nice not to have to think about one thing in particular, I'm not quite sure why.

Before I knew it, I had arrived at the school, earlier than usual, I might add. I was inside and at my locker before I could even register the fact that I had even moved. My brain was foggier than it had been a moment ago, at least I think it was. I couldn't really remember.

That's when I was bulldozed over by an unknown person.

"Oh my God! I am so sor- Oh, Hiccup," it was Astrid. I could tell by the annoyed tone of voice that she had used.

"Hey, Astrid," I greeted her, though it was obvious that she wasn't very happy to see me. It was rather reasonable, considering I had yelled at her a few days ago because she wanted to tell the whole world about my dragon friend.

I pushed myself up off the ground, seeing as Astrid had pulled her hand away when she had learned that it was me that she had ran into.

She was already walking away when I stopped her, "Astrid, wait!"

"What do you want, Hiccup?" She sneered, though she had halted, which I took to be a good thing.

"I-" I paused for a moment, trying to regain my train of thought. What had I wanted to talk to her about again?

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Astrid said, turning back around to leave.

"Wait!" I called again, knowing that what I had wanted to say to her had been important. She just kept walking.

"Ugh!" I groaned to myself. If only my thoughts weren't so clouded!

I'm not quite sure what happened after that, as most of it was a complete blur. I was able to make out little bits and pieces afterwards, but not much beyond teachers yelling at me to pay attention and Tyler's usual taunts.

When the school day was finished, things became a little bit clear, though I do recall that I had been suffering from a terrible headache. It was like someone was playing drums inside of my head. I wouldn't stop rubbing my forehead the whole way home.

When I reached my house, I was surprised to find Grayson standing just outside the front door. He was shifting from foot to foot, almost as if he was nervous about something. But what would he have to be nervous about?

"Hiccup!" He yelled when he noticed me, causing me to wince when the loud noise made the pain in my head hurt even more.

"Hey, Grayson," I said in response. I was tired and I would have much rather been in bed right then than talking to Grayson.

"Come on, I have something that I need to show you!" Grayson said, grabbing my arm and starting to drag me in a random direction.

"Not right now, Grayson," I said, tugging on my arm, "I'm too tired."

"It's important!"

"You say that about a lot of things."

"Just come on!" I was far too tired to argue any further.

Grayson and I walked for a long while, but I wasn't paying much attention to anything. By the time I returned to my senses, we were deep in the woods.

"Where are we going?" I attempted to ask, but it came out more as, "Mhph me mphing?"

Grayson seemed to understand, "You'll see."

Then I remembered something, "We have to go back!" I said, pulling away from Grayson abruptly.

"Why? We're almost there!" Grayson complained.

"My dad," I answered, already stumbling back the way we had come. Or, at least the way I think that we had come.

"He'll be fine," Grayson assured me.

"It's not his well-being that I'm worried about," I mumbled, but Grayson heard it.

"Then what are you worried about?"

I'm not sure why I said what I did, though it probably had something to do with my foggy mind and the fact that I couldn't tell the difference between my hand and my foot at that moment.

"He'll be angry," I said, though it sounded more like, "mpheel phee mphgry." Had the ground always been under my cheek?

"What makes you say that?" Grayson asked, hauling me off of the ground.

"He's always angry now," I replied, though it came out as a sluggish whisper.

"Why?" Grayson asked, now sounding genuinely curious, and was that concern?

"I do a lot of things wrong," was my mumbled reply.

"Like?" Grayson pushed, still pulling me along.

"Like… when I take food without his permission. Or when I just say stupid things. I think he drinks a lot too, because he smells like alcohol a lot. Sometimes I upset him so much that-that," and before I could even register them, tears were leaking out of my eyes. Why was I crying? Why was I even talking about this in the first place?

"Hey," Grayson said in a softer tone than he usually used, "it's okay."

He hugged me to his side, but we never stopped moving forward, "Everything will be okay."

"I just don't know what to do anymore," I whispered, because that seemed to be the only volume that my voice had at that moment. Where was I again? What was I doing?

"I'm so sorry, Hiccup," and there seemed to be true penitence in his voice, though I wasn't sure why. He had done nothing wrong, "I'm so sorry."

And then all was black.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Six

**_Hey guys! Here is chapter twenty-six! There are only a few more chapters left of this story. I'm excited to write the ending, but I am also sad that it will be over. I will not be writing a sequel, I feel as though when this story ends, it will not need one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the last few chapters of "A Friend"!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: Once again, I will tell you that none of the recognizable characters are mine! Thank you very much!_**

When I once again returned to consciousness, I had no idea where I was. I lay on the ground, in the middle of a forest. My mind worked slowly, trying to remember what had happened.

After trying to move my hand to brush at an itch on my face, I discovered that both my hands and my feet were bound, leaving me immobile. I tugged futilely at the ropes that were keeping me prisoner.

"Ah, you've finally awoken," a familiar voice said, hidden within the trees, just out of sight.

As my struggling grew more intense, the voice said, "Do not try to escape, you will not succeed."

"Who are you!" I yelled at the voice. The person stepped out from the trees.

"Mr. Madden?" I asked, astonished.

"Ah, you remember! I'm surprised, seeing as you never seem to be able to pay attention in my class," he sneered.

"What are you doing! Let me go!" I yelled.

"Why? If I were to do that, you might stop me from taking that dragon of your's."

"What? What are you talking about? I don't have a dragon," I lied.

"Ah, but I know you do, Hiccup. I have a very reliable source," he motioned for whomever he was speaking of to come forth.

Stepping from the tree line in a sulking manner, Grayson stood beside the man. It all came rushing back. The water I had drank that morning that must have been drugged. The delirium I had suffered throughout the entire day. Grayson desperately trying to get me to follow him into the woods, saying he had something important to show me. And, of course, me spilling my guts about all of my problems to him involuntarily as a side effect of whatever he had given me.

"You," I said, shock evident in my tone.

"Yes, him!" Mr. Madden said, seemingly delighted by the look of utter betrayal and hurt on my face, "Stabbed in the back by the one who you thought was your closest friend! Well, your only friend."

"How could you do this! I thought- I-I thought-" I couldn't finish my sentence.

"I'm sorry," Grayson mouthed, though I just glared at him through the tears welling in my eyes.

"Why?" I finally managed to ask.

"Because he is my son!" Mr. Madden answered.

"I thought that you lived with your grandmother!" I yelled.

"No, he lives with me."

"Was anything you told me true, Grayson! If that's even your real name!" I shouted at him.

"Of course my name is Grayson! Why would I lie about that?"

"I don't know, why did you lie about anything at all." I muttered. Then, something Madden had said earlier came back to me.

"Where is Toothless!" I yelled.

"Oh, is that what you call it? Why, he's right over there," Madden pointed into the trees, and I could hear faint roars coming from deep within them.

"Let him go! Why do you need my dragon?"

"He will make a great addition to my team. He will help me to take over this god forsaken town and kick that mayor out."

"Just let him go!" I pleaded.

"No."

I looked to Grayson, who had been quiet during the whole exchange.

"Come on, Grayson! You can't do this! I know you're good, I've seen the way you treat Steadfast and Scout, and how kind you are to everyone you meet! You can't fake something like that! I know you're a good person! I know you don't want to do this!" I said.

"I don't have a choice," was his answer.

"Please," I begged, though it came out as little more than a whisper.

"Enough of your whining! Come Grayson, we have things to do!" Madden said, turning away from me.

With one last glance back at me, Grayson mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," once more before turning around and following his father.

They headed in the direction of Toothless' calls.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**_Hey guys! So, there will probably only be another chapter or two after this one, and then this story will be over! I am telling you now, there will not be a sequel. What would I even write a sequel about? I don't know. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the last few chapters of this story!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Grayson and Madden! Thank you!_**

"Grayson! Grayson, don't do this!" I yelled as loudly as I could manage at the trees that they had disappeared within.

"Grayson, please! You have a choice!" I continued. Nothing happened.

"You traitor! I should have known that you were too weak to fight back!" I screamed, but the last part came out a little watery as tears welled in my eyes. I had to get free and help Toothless. I had to.

There had to be someway to untie these ropes. I twisted and wriggled to the best of my ability, but the ropes held strong. What was I going to do?

I glanced around me, trying to find something, anything that could get me out of this. That's when I spotted it. A pocket knife.

It was just within my reached, one of them must have dropped it by accident when they were walking by. Thank the gods.

With my bound hands, I grabbed the knife and positioned it so that I could begin sawing away at the rope.

After much time and concentration, the ropes fell from around my wrists and I quickly undid the ones that wrapped around my ankles.

Tossing the infernal rope aside and stuffing the knife in my pocket, I climbed to my feet and began running in the direction they had said Toothless was being kept. It took me only moments to figure out that I would most likely need help, and I skidded to a stop. Who could I possibly trust to help me.

Well, my only option was the only other person that knew about Toothless. Astrid.

It wasn't hard to located her, though I actually hadn't planned on stumbling across her and the rest of her friends in the park at this time of day. It seemed that Lady Luck was finally on my side today. Now all I needed to do was somehow convince her to talk to me in private and come help me save Toothless. Easier said than done.

"Astrid!" I yelled as I approached her, gaining both her and everyone else's attention.

"Hey, Hiccup!" Fishlegs greeted while Astrid just rolled her eyes.

"Um, hi. Would you guys mind if I just borrowed Astrid for a moment?" I asked, slightly out of breath from running all the way here from the middle of woods.

"Sure thing," Fishlegs said.

"Don't I get any say in this?" Astrid asked angrily.

"Please, Astrid. This is important," I said, nothing but seriousness in my tone.

"Well, if it's important to you then it most certainly isn't important to me."

"Someone took him, Astrid. They took him and I don't know where he is," I blurted out without really thinking. Hopefully she would understand who it was that I meant.

She did, as her facial expression morphed from irritation to one of confusion and possibly concern, "Can you guys give us a sec?"

The others, however, weren't as easily brushed off.

"Who took who?" Ruffnut asked.

"Yeah, who is this 'him'?" Tuffnut said.

Astrid ignored them, pulling me over to the side before whispering, "Who took Toothless?"

I sucked in a deep breath before saying, "Mr. Madden and his son," I said the last word with such disgust and hatred that Astrid flinched slightly.

"Mr. Madden? What would he need a dragon for?"

"He said something about forming some team of dragons and overthrowing my father," I answered.

"Why?" She asked.

"I don't know," I muttered, "but we have to save Toothless, and any other dragons they may have imprisoned."

"You don't honestly think we can do that all on out own, do you? We're just two kids, Hiccup. We need to go to the authorities," Astrid said.

"We can't!" I shouted, a little to loud as the rest of the group had apparently heard me. I lowered my voice, "We can't. Who knows what they'll do if they find out about Toothless. I can't loose him Astrid. I just can't."

"Okay, we won't go to the authorities, but we aren't going to be able to do this on our own. We're going to need help," Astrid said.

"And who are we going to ask? I don't think there are many people who will accompany us if we ask them, 'Hey, we need your help rescuing a dragon from a psycho history teacher. Will you help?'" I pointed out.

"Well, let's just ask them," Astrid motioned to the group of teenagers who were trying to inconspicuously listen in on our conversation.

"Okay, only for Toothless," I agreed.

"Guys," Astrid waved them over.

"What are you whispering about? Are you planning to rob a bank or something?" Snotlout asked, receiving a smack to the head from Astrid.

"Snotlout, shut up, this is serious," Astrid warned.

"Okay, jeez. No need to be so violent," Snotlout muttered, rubbing his head were he had been struck.

"Go on Hiccup, ask them," Astrid encouraged me.

"Ask us what?" Ruffnut questioned.

I sucked in a deep breath before saying, "I need your help."

"With what? Do you not understand the homework or something, cuz neither did I," Tuffnut said.

"No, I need your help with a rescue mission," I explained.

"What are we rescuing?" Fishlegs asked.

"Not a what, a who," I corrected, "A friend of mine."

"Why does he need rescuing?" Snotlout asked, clearly not understanding.

"He's been taken."

"What? Hiccup, don't you think you should be telling the police about this?" Fishlegs exclaimed.

"That's just it, I don't think the police will be much help." I said.

"Why not? If someone's in trouble, the cops will be able to help them more than us," Snotlout reasoned.

"I'm not so sure they'll do much good in this situation," I said, trying to avoid saying the one thing that I knew I would have to.

"And why not?" Snotlout started, "My dad's a cop and he helps people all the time."

"Well, this friend, he's not exactly a person," I said.

"Then what is he?" Snotlout asked, wary of my reply.

"He's, well, he's a dragon."


	30. Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Are you guys for real right now?" Snotlout asked, "I had a feeling this was some kind of trick!"

"It's not a trick, Snotlout!" Astrid shouted, "This is serious! Mr. Madden kidnapped Hiccup's dragon and he's going to use him and a bunch of other dragons to overthrow the mayor!"

I didn't like the way Astrid said "Hiccup's dragon" because Toothless was not mine. If anything, I was his. But such things were not of importance at that very moment.

"Mr. Madden, really? Did you really think we would believe that?" Tuffnut said.

"Yes, I thought you would believe it because it's the truth!" Astrid yelled, "How can you not-"

"Astrid!" I raised my voice slightly, "It's okay. We can't make them believe anything. We'll be fine on our own. Let's just go, before they hurt Toothless."

Astrid looked like she wanted to argue some more, get them to believe us, but she nodded her head and followed me anyway.

"Okay, well, when you're done messing around, we'll be here!" Snoutlout shouted to us as we left. It looked like Astrid and I were going on our own anyway.

"Are you sure that it was Mr. Madden?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, it wasn't too hard to tell with the way he chuckled evilly in my face while I was tied up!" I replied, frustrated. I just wanted this all to be over.

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Astrid held her hands up defensively.

"Sorry, I'm just a little worried about Toothless. I hope that he's okay."

"I'm sure he's fine. Well get him back," Astrid assured me.

"I sure hope so."

"Why are you so determined to find him anyway. I mean, I know he's like your pet or whatever, but are you sure that you're really willing to risk your life for him?" She inquired.

"He's not my pet, Astrid. I don't think anyone could ever call a dragon their pet, and I'm no exception." I responded.

"Then, if he's not your pet, what is he?"

"He's my best friend, and the only one I've got. I didn't tame him, he chose to befriend me."

"What do you mean your only friend? What about us?" Astrid asked, referring to herself and her friends, slightly shocked.

I looked at her, confused. I had never really considered that.

"I never really thought of it that way. I hadn't even realized that you guys would even want to be my friends."

"Well, when people ask you to hang out with them more than once, it usually means that they want to be friends." Astrid said.

"My bad. I've never had experience with people wanting to be my friends before. Oh, wait! That sounds depressing! Not like that! I meant I just don't hang out with people that much. Ugh! You know what, I'll just stop talking."

Astrid giggled, "Well, for the record, we do want to be your friends."

"Good to know. I think that I need friends that are actually human." I chuckled softly.

"So, how far is it?" She asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure how far away it is, but I know the direction they went in. We should find Toothless there," I answered.

"Let's hope you're right."


	31. Chapter Twenty-Nine

It wasn't long before we stumbled into a break in the trees in which they had been keeping Toothless. The only bad thing about it was that it was empty.

"They're gone," I whispered, not able to believe that my psycho-crazy history teacher had escaped with my best friend in tow.

"Are you sure this is where they were keeping him?" Astrid asked, trying her best to be optimistic.

"I'm sure," I confirmed in a hoarse voice, glancing over at the abandoned metal contraption, which at one point must have housed Toothless, and the lines in the dirt that meant something had been drug through it.

I felt dismayed, at a loss of what to do. It was like all the determination that had drove me through the woods had suddenly drained right out of me, leaving me feeling strangely hollow inside. It was the crushing feeling of hopelessness that filled the void that brought tears to my eyes.

But not a single tear had a chance to fall, for just as quickly as it had come, the feeling was intensified by a burning fury that I had never, in all of my fifteen years of living, experienced. It even surpassed that of the time I had just exploded in my own home whilst my father was gone.

The feeling was so overwhelmingly powerful that I sunk to my knees before letting out a frustrated scream that made several previously unseen birds fly out from the towering treetops.

"We were so close! We almost had them!"

"Hiccup!" My attention was pulled away from my rage when Astrid called my name. I turned to face her.

"You need to calm down," she said in a low voice, "We'll accomplish nothing by losing our heads."

"Right. You're right. You're always right," I agreed.

"Of course I am," she chuckled, before turning more serious, "Now, let's think about this rationally. It was probably for the better that they weren't here- let me explain!" She said before I could cut her off with an outraged cry. I huffed, allowing her to continue.

"We wouldn't have been able to do anything against them, anyway. We're just two kids. We need help."

"Because asking for help worked out so well last time," I muttered sarcastically.

"Hush! The point is that we can't do this by ourselves, no matter how determined we are. We're outmatched, by far."

"What are you guys doing?" A familiar voice called from behind me.

I turned to face the voice, already confident that I knew who it belonged to.

"Oh thank the gods," I muttered, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thought you weren't coming," Astrid said.

"Yeah, well we wanted to know what the hell you guys were doing that was taking so long," Snotlout spoke once again.

"We already told you. We're trying to find Hiccup's dragon." Astrid reminded them, slightly annoyed.

"Still with that?" Tuffnut rolled his eyes.

"You'd have to have believed it somewhat to have come all this way." Astrid pointed out.

"Look, we're wasting time. I don't care whether you believe us or not, either you're helping or you're staying, make your choice. I'm going to go get Toothless, and I don't care if I've got to go alone," I stated, looking to Astrid to see if she planned to join me.

Knowing that she wanted to be tactical, I figured she probably wouldn't want to go barging in there with no plan or help, and it didn't seem as though we had either.

"Don't be stupid," Astrid said, "You know that you couldn't do anything, even with my help."

"I don't care." I started, "It doesn't matter to me who helps and who doesn't, I'll do it on my own if I have to. I'll get Toothless back, or I'll die trying. Doesn't matter to me if I go alone or not. I'm getting him back, I just hope that, if I end up dying, Toothless will be able to get away."

With my speech given, I turned to set off in the direction the drag marks led. Hopefully they'd lead me to Toothless.

"This all just sounds like some big, cheesy movie," Tuffnut said.

"It sure feels that way," I mumbled to myself.

"Well, you can't be the only hero," Astrid said, and I could hear her footsteps as she followed me.

"Hey, don't think you guys are all that great! If we're going to play hero, we all know who's clearly the best at being awesome!" Snotlout shouted, running to catch up to us.

"Wait for us," I heard Ruffnut and Tuffnut yell out at the same time before following Snotlout's lead.

"I guess I can try to help," Fishlegs agreed nervously, starting after us as well.

I smiled secretly to myself. I guess I had real friends after all.


	32. Chapter Thirty

**_We're nearing the last chapter folks! It will either be the next chapter or the one after that, and then this story will be over! I'm kind of both excited and sad at the same time, but I know that it is time for me to finish this story up! It's been going on forever! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the last few chapters!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I may have forgotten this in a few past chapters, but you know what, you already get the idea. Me no owny How to Train Your Dragony._**

Honestly, I should have figured that the trail would have ended at some point, it just seemed too good to be true. But I had been so set on finding Toothless that I forgot to even think. I figured that the trail would lead on because it had to, and I figured that we would find Toothless because we just had to. But it seemed as though Lady Luck was feeling a bit moody as of late, because she was once again not on our side.

"Of course it ends here," I muttered to myself, "Of course they rode dragons out of here to keep us off their trail."

I looked up at the sky in dismay, examining several of the tree branches that must have been snapped off as they ascended. Really, it was just my luck.

"Now what are we going to do?" Fishlegs asked.

"I'm not sure there's anything that we can do." Astrid replied.

"There has to something we can do. I'm not giving up until we find him," I said determinedly. I would not abandon Toothless, not when he needed me most.

"Well what do you suggest we do? We have no idea which way they could have gone, and even if we did know the way, how would we even get there?" Astrid pointed out.

"Easy for you to say, he's not your friend," I mumbled.

"It's not easy for me to say, Hiccup! I might not be besties with a freakin' dragon, but I'm friends with you, and I want to help! But there just isn't any logical way to find them!" Astrid shouted, probably frustrated with me.

"Have you looked around lately! Nothing we are doing is logical! We are looking for a dragon, Astrid, a dragon! Clearly we need something other than a logical plan for something so illogical," I yelled at her. She remained silent.

"Now, look around for any clues as to where they could have gone. There has to be something." I instructed everyone, and we began the search for clues.

It wasn't long before someone was calling out, saying that they had found something. After several false alarms, it was Fishlegs who found the only thing worth noting, and it wasn't even that far from the end of the trail of footprints and dragmarks that had led us here.

"Hey, Hiccup! I found something, I think!" Fishlegs yelled a little ways through the trees, quickly followed by the sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs.

"What is it? What did you find?" I asked urgently. I needed to know, the longer we waited, the further away they got.

"It a note. It's addressed to you," Fishlegs said after peeking at the words I assumed were written on the paper held in his hands.

"Me?" I asked, slightly startled. Why would there be a note addressed to me? Unless…

I snatched the piece of paper out of Fishlegs' hand before he could read it. If it was from who I thought it was from, then I didn't want anyone else reading it but me. It read:

"Dear Hiccup,

I know you think I've betrayed you, and maybe not long ago I would have. But these past few days I've gotten to know you and Toothless, and I thought, 'hey, these two are pretty cool.' That's why I decided to leave that knife for you, even if it was against my dad's wishes. You don't know how hard it was for me to not just scream out, 'I'm on your side!' But, clearly, I couldn't. Anyway, before I run out of time, we're heading to an old abandon warehouse that is surrounded on both sides by empty lots (stereotypical, I know). It's about five blocks from your house. If you hurry, you should get there in time, though I'm not sure when you'll find this note. I'll distract my dad for as long as I can. Good luck!

Still Your Friend,

Grayson"

The relief I felt was uncanny, I shouldn't have felt anywhere near as happy as I did. I couldn't help it though. It was just such a relief to know that Grayson was still on my side. Not to mention the fact that we now had a plan of sorts. I was determined to get Toothless back. Even if I died in the process.


	33. Chapter Thirty-One

"Okay, here's the plan," I began my explanation of Grayson's sort-of-plan, as well as explaining my own additions, to everyone. I showed them the letter, though not what was written on it, and told them how we had someone on the inside that was more than willing to help us out, as well as the location of the building they were keeping Toothless in.

"How long will it take to get there?" Astrid asked after all the explaining was done.

"Well, if it's where I think it is, and it should be, it'll probably take somewhere around twenty minutes if we walk from here, and seeing as we have no other options, that's about all we can do right now. So let's get going!" I said, raising my fist in the air like some sort of rally-starter before running roughly in the direction where we would find Toothless, the others not far behind.

"That's the place?" Tuffnut asked dubiously, pointing at the dilapidated building that had just come in to view. It was rusty and old and rundown, a cliché villain's hideout if ever there was one. The sign indicating its name had long since been destroyed, the only remaining letters being a large capital "h", two "o"s following the gap after it, and a number of other small letters that were indiscernible, though whether it was from the lack of lighting coming from the now dusky sky or just because the paint that made them up was too far gone, washed away by rain and age, I couldn't tell at the time.

"Yeah, this is it," I confirmed, gesturing to the building with my hand.

"Looks… old and abandoned," Tuffnut replied.

"Well, what did you expect? I'm pretty sure all the fancy hotels with dragon kennels aren't open during this time of year," Ruffnut said sardonically, rolling her eyes as if to punctuate her sentence.

"Hey, I was just saying!" Tuffnut defended himself.

"Well, just stop saying!" Ruffnut yelled back.

"Both of you shush!" I whisper-yelled, "If you keep going at it, he'll know we're here."

"He started it, he was being an idiot," Ruffnut said.

"Oh, what are you, five? Just shut up and get ready. I'll go in first, then, when I give you a signal, you guys come in and back me up," I said, taking a few steps toward the building.

"Why do you get to go in first?" Snotlout whined.

"Uh, maybe because I'm the only one who knows Toothless and the guy is expecting me out of all of us to show up." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, what's the signal then?" Astrid asked.

"I'll just say 'now.' Simple and easy."

"And completely boring," Snotlout mumbled.

"Well I didn't ask you, now did I? Just be prepared. Do you have anything to defend yourselves with?" I asked after a moment's thought.

"Not exactly. We weren't planning on fighting a dragon kidnapper tonight," Tuffnut snarked.

"Uh," I paused, sticking my hands in my pockets subconsciously to warm them. My fingers brushed against something plastic in my right pocket. The knife.

I pulled the weapon out and held it in front of me, "I've got this. Hopefully I won't even need to use it. I'll go in with this, you guys-" I paused for a brief moment, surveying my surroundings until my eyes landed on the empty lot beside the warehouse that was crowded with all sorts of things, "-see what you can find in there."

"In a bunch of trash?" Snotlout asked incredulously.

"You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. I'm going in, see what you can find," and with that, I turned away and cautiously made my way towards the abandoned building, unwilling to be caught by any prying eyes, especially if those eyes belonged to a certain history teacher of mine.

' _I'm on my way, bud.'_

 ** _Yay! I'm not dead! Sorry for such a long wait. I'm not even going to make any excuses, I was just lazy. It's like every time I sat down to right this chapter I wrote a sentence and then got pulled away to do something else and I just didn't want to do it after that. But chapter thirty-one is finally here! I think that the next chapter is going to be the last one, I'm pretty sure. I already know basically how it's going to play out, and then there will just be the epilogue. I'm so excited! This story has been going on for so long, I'm just happy that I'm finally going to see the conclusion. And I'm sure you guys are too! Anyways, enough of my babbling. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and feel free to leave me a review! They guilt me into updating faster!_**


	34. Chapter Thirty-Two

**_Disclaimer: Don't own it._**

Upon entering the building, the first thing I noticed was the nearly absolute darkness that engulfed me in its cool embrace. The second thing was the lack of any noises other than those of the nighttime outside. Had we gone to the wrong place? But how many abandoned buildings surrounded on either side by empty lots were there?

The near silence was broken by the ominous resounding of footsteps that pervaded the large space. The sound made the hairs on the back of my arms and neck stand on end. I tightened my hold on the knife, hardly able to see, feeling strangely like some hoodlum waiting in a dark alley to jump someone.

As my eyes further adjusted to the darkness and I was able to see, I could just make out a figure at the far side of the building. It was large, the size of a dragon, I would say. Perhaps it was Toothless? But it didn't seem restrained.

"Toothless?" I whispered quietly, cautiously, unwilling to alert the beast to my presence but wanted to know whether it was Toothless or not.

It's head swung around, though I was unable to tell exactly which way it was facing in the dim lighting. My guess would be towards me.

It began to move, slowly at first but gradually picking up speed as it went until it was almost galloping my way. The weapon clutched in my hand now seemed measly compared to the size of the creature rushing towards me, but I held firm, readying myself to strike if needed. Before it reached me, however, it launched itself into the air, soaring over my head and landing behind me all before I could even process its ascent.

It massive clawed foot descended upon me, pinning me to the cement floor and effectively disarming me. Several sharp talons poked at my skin, sharp as the knife I had once held in my hand.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice rang out in the darkness. Madden's voice.

The lights suddenly burst to life, illuminating the room in there yellowy glow. The lights also revealed an approaching Madden, Grayson at his side with his head down so as to remain inconspicuous.

"Why is it that I'm not surprised that you've come? Maybe it's because of my traitorous son's incompetence," he spoke aloud, more to himself than to me, before shoving Grayson in front of him. He stumbled and fell to the ground on his knees, though he made no move to get up.

"Grayson?" I whispered, bemused by the events that had just played out before me.

"I'm sorry. I tried to make sure he didn't find out, but he-"

"Shut up!" Madden intervened with a sharp kick to Grayson's side, which was promptly followed by a yelp from the boy, "Enough of your blabbering!"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" I yelled defiantly, wiggling slightly in an attempt to free myself. The pressing of claws to my flesh made me pause in my escape efforts.

"Trying to escape is futile. That dragon of your's is a vicious one, and I don't think it'll be letting you go anytime soon."

"What?" I twisted my head to the side, hoping to dismiss the thought that this dragon threatening to rip me open was Toothless. I had no such luck.

Toothless stared straight ahead, his face completely impassive. His pupils were slitted and unfocused, and an abnormal-looking collar was wrapped around his neck, bound by a lock of sorts.

"Toothless?" There was no answer, he just continued to state straight forward.

"Hey, bud. What're you doing?" Still nothing.

The collar hummed quietly but incessantly, and that's when I realized that it must have been the cause of his strange behavior. His ear plates twitched every so often from the collar's buzzing.

"What did you do to him?" I asked, somehow both angry and scared for Toothless at the same time.

"Oh, it was nothing, really. I'd had several of those things already made for the other dragons, so it really wasn't all that difficult to just follow the same design for that one." Madden replied in his supercilious tone of voice, "It'll do whatever I want it to. It is under my control."

"Toothless, bud?" I tried to twist around in the dragon's hold, but his claws only threatened to puncture my skin, "Hey, Toothless! Wake up, bud! This isn't you."

"Do you ever listen? It isn't going to do anything other than what I want it to do," Madden reiterated, appearing slightly annoyed by my futile attempts.

"Toothless! Come on, bud!" I refused to stop trying.

"Ugh! You know, this was somewhat amusing at first, but now you've just grown tiresome. Kill him." This bit was directed towards Toothless, "I have more important things to do with my time than babysitting some insolent brat."

Talons ripped easily through my shirt, and before I could fully process what was happening, a sharp pain spread quickly throughout my back from where claws had met skin. The pain was shocking, and an involuntary scream tore it's way out of my throat.

"No!" Grayson shouted, almost begging, it seemed. "Dad, stop! You don't have to kill him! Please!"

"I've heard enough out of you, Grayson. You're the traitorous swine here, so I suggest that you keep you're mouth shut, before I allow you to join your so-called 'friend'."

I ground my teeth together in order to keep anymore screams from escaping. The pain was unlike any I had ever felt before in my life, and rightfully so, seeing as it came from the talons of a dragon.

"Toothless!" I yelled amidst my agony in hopes of gaining Toothless attention. The scratching stopped for a moment, a claw rest lightly on my back, twitching, as though trying to move but unable to.

"Toothless, please. I know you're in there, bud. Just come on out. I'm not mad at you, none of us are. You just need to stop this." I twisted my body around to the best of my able so that I was able to look at Toothless, ignoring the searing pain in my back.

"Come on, bud. I know you can do it," I encourage him. His pupils dilated for a moment before returning back to blank slits.

"Enough of this! Do as I say, you impudent beast!" Madden demanded loudly.

"Don't listen to him, Toothless. I know you don't want to this." I reached out and placed my hand on his snout. His pupils widened and stayed that way, aside from the occasional flicker.

Toothless cooed softly in recognition and what may have been an apology before removing his paw from my lower back and allowing me to move freely. Or rather, I would have moved freely had my back not felt as though it were on fire.

"I knew you could do it, bud," I whispered to Toothless, who lowered his head in what appeared to be shame, "It's okay, Toothless, I know it wasn't you. I know it wasn't you."

He made another dragonish noise before nuzzling the side of my face, gently so as not to further injure me. Then, without any warning, he turned toward Madden and let out a deafening roar as he charged him.

Madden let out a frighten scream, which, if I'm honest, was higher than it ought to have been, before turning on his heels and running in the opposite direction.

"You hideouts beast! Do as I say! Attack him!" Madden pointed roughly in my direction as best he could while running for his life.

"Hiccup?" I was startled to find that Grayson was right beside me. I had been so focused on Toothless that I hadn't noticed his approach, "Are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah, as much as can be expected I guess," I grimaced in pain as I adjusted my position without meaning to.

Just as Grayson opened his mouth to something more, the doors to the warehouse squeaked open to reveal Astrid and the others quickly approaching.

Grayson gave me a questioning look, but that was all he managed to do before Astrid was talking.

"Are you okay? We heard yelling and then a roar and we thought something might have happened." She explained rapidly without taking a breathe.

"I'm fine," another jolt of pain shot throughout my back, "-ish"

"What in the world was that noise we he-" Snotlout was cut off by another dragon-like shriek.

"Grayson, are Steadfast and Scout here?" I asked, needing to know the answering and hoping that it was a yes.

"No, they're still back in the woods. Why?"

"Because that wasn't Toothless," I said as I stood from my place on the ground. My back burned, but I ignored it. I needed to make sure Toothless was okay.

As it turned out, I didn't need to rise at all, as Toothless came bounding out of the darkness of a faraway corridor towards us. Just before he collided with Grayson and I, he twisted around so he was standing in front of me, lowered in a protective crouch and uttering a threatening growl. His wings were held out in a way that suggested they were weapons and I could hear Toothless suck in a breath in preparation of letting loose a bolt of bluish fire.

Everyone scrambled backwards aside from me and Grayson, though Astrid moved less out of fear and more out of caution to avoid being struck in the head by Toothless' tail.

"Toothless?" I approached him, setting a hand on his side just below where his wing connected to his back, going beneath his wing in the process.

He glanced at me before returning his attention to the corridor that he had just exited, where another roar erupted from, followed by two others. Toothless' tail came up from behind me and pushing me backwards and behind the dragon. The roars did not sound friendly.

"Uh, Hiccup?" Astrid asked, "What is that?"

"Those, Astrid. Dragons, and quite a few by the sounds of it."

"What do we do?" Snotlout questioned.

"Um," I looked to Grayson for help.

"I'm pretty sure our only option is to fight." Grayson said.

"Or we could run," Tuffnut pointed out.

"And risk letting blood-thirsty dragons loose on the city? I don't think so." I replied.

"So we're gonna get ourselves killed instead?" Snotlout objected. Another scream came from the dragons in the corridor, this was louder. Closer.

"Not necessarily," Grayson motioned to Toothless, "Toothless here is one of the most dangerous type of dragon. His fast and his fire bolts do a lot of damage."

"Even so, he's pretty out numbered," Astrid said.

"She's got a point," I agreed.

"Well, guess we'll just have to fix that, huh?" Grayson put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. Nothing happened.

"What is that gonna do, draw them to us?" Snotlout shouted.

"Wait for it." Grayson said in way of explanation.

"Wait for what?" Snotlout yelled, exasperated.

Before another word could be uttered, a bluish dragon burst through the doors of the building, a smaller one right on its heels. It didn't take me more than a moment to realize that they were Steadfast and Scout.

Without waiting for the dragon to slow, Grayson grabbed hold of one of the spike protruding from Steadfast's neck and swung himself on his bare back, right in between his shoulder blades.

"Come on! All was have to do is cut the collars off the dragons, and they won't attack us anymore!" Grayson paused for a moment and Steadfast screeched to a halt beside Toothless, "Hopefully."

Reaching around the dragon's head, Grayson pulled from Steadfast's mouth a wooden staff, topped with sharp blade on either end. Scout jumped from the floor and flew, only to land on Grayson shoulder, clutching his shirt's fabric softly but firmly to stay in place.

"I guess it's our only chance," I said, grabbed the feeble knife I had entered with. Hopefully it would be enough.

I mounted Toothless, without a saddle as it had been taken off of him, and cut loose his own collar. The pain in my back was substantial, but I tried not to focus on it, though it would definitely be a limitation when it came to fighting.

"There you go, bud." I looked behind me at Astrid and her companions. My companions, I suppose they now were.

"If you think you're up to fighting dragons, you can join us," I offered.

Astrid raised an axe, which she must have found while I was inside, over her head and yelled, "Let's do this!"

She ran forward, followed hesitantly by the others, and Steadfast and Toothless ran as well. Another shriek was heard before the other dragons burst forth from the darkened corridor.

 ** _And another chapter! This was supposed to be the last one, as I may have mentioned in the previous chapter, but it ended up being longer than expected so it is now two chapters and an epilogue. Almost finished! Anyway, hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-two of "A Friend" and please leave a comment telling me what you thought of it! Seriously, they make me update faster! Anyway, BYYYEEEEE!_**


	35. Chapter Thirty-Three

**_Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it._**

There were five of them, I thought, each one a different size and color, and each one with its own quirks. I was pretty sure there was one with two heads, so did that one count as two? Not the point.

A large red dragon with bat-like wings spewed liquid fire at Grayson and I where we then sat, at the front of the charge. Toothless used his wings as cover, and thought I couldn't see much, I was certain that Steadfast had done the same. Their fireproof scales protected us from the flames.

As Toothless ran at the dragon, I noticed the collar wrapped around its thin neck, not unlike the one I had found on Toothless. The collar I had been looking for.

Rather than pounce on the dragon as it might have assumed, Toothless flew over the creature and twisted in midair, changing direction and slashing through the rough leather of the collar with a sharp talon as though it were little more than water.

The dragon's pupils dilated and it look around in confusion. It seemed to understand very little about what was going on. Upon spotting me atop Toothless back, it hissed in a rather cat-like manner, spreading its scarlet wings and flapping backwards, as if to put as much distance between us as was possible until it could figure out just what to do.

Toothless approached it slowly, and I held my hand out in a non-threatening manner, the same way I had to Toothless not long after I had found him. The dragon shied away and growled, so I made a daring move. I quickly darted forward and placed my hand on the scales just beneath its jaw and scratched, as though it were a dog, something I had learned from spending time with Toothless. It emitted a pleased hum, almost like a purr, before collapsing on the ground and curling up.

I rejoined the fighting, looking out for any danger that the dragons could have presented. The wounds on my back ached profusely, but I tried my very hardest to ignore them. I had to do this, there was no other way. I couldn't sit this one out. There was no avoiding it. My breathing was labored, but I pushed on. I would not let some stupid pain best me. I could do it. I'd be fine.

A Deadly Nadder, just like Steadfast, charged from behind the other dragons, angled toward my friends on the ground without the protection of another dragon. It turned mid-run and shot spikes from its tail, three of them at once. Astrid and Snotlout couldn't escape, they didn't have time. The spikes were too fast and too close to avoid. I didn't know what to do. Good thing Toothless did.

Without hesitation, he shot a bolt of blue fire toward the deadly quills, aiming just right. It landed beneath the deadly projectiles as they soared over the ground and exploded on impact. One of the spikes was shattered, the other two were redirected toward the ceiling, where they then stuck into the material and hung there.

I released I breath I had not realized I'd been holding before patting Toothless on the head, "Thanks, bud."

Grayson rushed forward and, using the strange staff-like thing Steadfast has brought along with him, sliced the collar around the Nadder's neck right off. It fell to the floor with a soft thump that was inaudible amongst all the noise, but most certainly there.

The Deadly Nadder acted much like the red dragon, the species of which I could not identify at the time. This time though, Grayson reacted before the Nadder could regain its senses, pulling a plant forth from his pants pocket and rubbing it against the dragon's muzzle. It responded much like a cat would to catnip, and the dragon was thoroughly enthralled by the plant. It did not return to attack us anymore.

There was one dragon left, or two, I guess, seeing as it had two heads. At least, I had thought so, until Toothless let out a yelp and jumped forwards. He swung his tail around to his face, and attached to the end was a small, roundish dragon with wings almost too tiny to support its chunky green body.

Toothless swung his tail back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the pesky creature, but it held firm, and its sharp teeth dug deeper into the flesh of his tail. Toothless let out a pained whine.

Fire engulfed the small dragon, as well as nearly half of Toothless tail. I started at the sudden brightness, and when it receded an imprint of glowing flames still danced upon my vision. However, despite what I had initially thought, all the flames had not disappeared. Some still swayed at the tip of Toothless tail, eating away furiously at the leather that I had constructed his tail fin out of.

Looking up, I spotted the form of Steadfast running in the opposite direction, presumably to fight our last opponent. I had not doubt that it had been him and Grayson that had set fire to Toothless's tail, though I could not fathom why until I saw the partially stunned, though no longer under the control of Madden, dragon that had previously been chewing on Toothless's tail. I guess that attack had had a purpose.

Toothless twisted around, trying in vain to reach his tail and put out the ever-burning fire, though to no avail. He brought the appendage to his face and tried to use a giant paw to bat out the fire, but that only seemed to make it worse.

"Here, bud, let me see it!" I shouted to be heard over the cacophony of sounds coming from both human and dragon alike.

When Toothless remained oblivious to my offer, I jump from the saddle upon his back and ran to his burning tail fin, "Toothless!"

The running had made my back burn, beyond what it had before, and I could feel the remains of my shirt pulling at the sore skin of my back. I gritted my teeth, trying my very hardest to bare it.

And then, something the likes of which had never crossed my mind before played out. Looking back on it, it now seems as though it were in slow motion, although at the time it could have been anything but, and probably was.

The first thing I remember is hearing the sound of shuffling from where the chubby dragon had been laying, though I didn't remember until afterwards. The second thing I recall is a heavy object colliding with my aching back with as much force as I would imagine a bullet having, and me collapsing on the floor. The third thing, and final one, was the sharp squeal of an injured animal, and then a large black wing blocking the rest of the world from my sight, as well as the all-encompassing darkness of unconsciousness that soon thereafter consumed me.

The next thing I can recall happening is me fading in and out of reality, almost like in the movies when the character is out cold and there are little flickers of light and familiar faces flashing before said characters eyes. It was something like that, only far less distinct, with no sounds, and it could have just as likely been a dream as it could have been reality. They were only small flashes of what could have been people, though may also have been simply shapes. My memory of them is so little that I still cannot tell. My next experience, however, is far more in detail and easier to recall.

I remember waking up to thin hospital sheets that felt papery and scratchy on my bare arms and legs. I also wore a hospital gown, which matched the texture of the sheets that covered me almost exactly. The light that streamed into the room was that of early dawn, a soft, golden-orange color that I rarely got the chance to see, for I did not often find myself awake early enough to witness the sun rising.

Upon awakening, my muddled brain could not comprehend much of where I was or why I was there, but as I blinked a few times and sat up, the motion accompanied by a prominent burning sensation in my back, my addled mind cleared, and I could then recall the events that had presumably resulted in my arrival at the hospital. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember how I had gotten there, I still cannot, but I at least knew the reason for which I had been condemned to a hospital bed in a stark white room. That was at least something.

I casted a glance about the room in search of something familiar, or at least something not so entirely bland as the rest of the space was. My eyes settled on two chairs across the room, colored a deep burgundy that contrasted drastically with the pale walls and floor, though it was not the furniture items that had attracted my attention, but rather their occupants.

The one to the left, well, my left anyway, seated Grayson, who was fast asleep, his head resting on his own shoulder in a rather uncomfortable-looking sleeping position. He snored softly, though not quite so softly that I was unable to hear, and drool dribbled from his open mouth. The sight in and of itself was rather amusing to witness.

In the one to the right, the one slight closer to me, sat Astrid, whose hair hung in her face limply, despite her hair tie that tried, unsuccessfully, to hold it in place. She, unlike Grayson, was awake by then, though the slight dropping of her eyes and the reddish imprint on her face that matched the rivets on the collar of her shirt were sure signs that she had not been awake for very long and would probably not be for much longer.

I opened my mouth in an attempt to speak, but all that came out was a strange sort of squeak. Bewildered by my inability to speak as I wished, I began to wonder just how long I had been out for. Clearing my throat, I tried again, and was henceforth met with my desired result.

"Astrid?" my voice came out sounding scratchy, as though it had been without use for several days, perhaps longer. It didn't matter though. At least it was working this time.

She jolted in surprise, apparently not expecting to have heard me speak. I assumed I must have been unconscious for a while, then. Her bemusement died down, however, and transformed into a joy unlike any I had seen upon Astrid's face before, or anyone else's face, for that matter.

"Hiccup! You're awake!" She exclaimed, though her loudness did little to wake Grayson, who remained deep in sleep.

"Yeah, I've noticed. Why are you guys sleeping in here, shouldn't you be at home?" I asked.

"Oh," Astrid started, "Well, Grayson was worried about you, and I decided to stay behind with him. He didn't get much sleep in the past couple of days, so he probably won't be awake for a while. And that is probably a good thing, he'll need the sleep."

"Oh?" I glanced at Grayson. Stupid jerk, worry himself to the point of near-insomnia.

"I think you're becoming quite popular Hiccup. Look at all the friends you're making," she sat herself down on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Yeah. How strange." I paused before saying, "So, uh, what happened after I passed out?"

"Oh, right. Well, Toothless wouldn't let anyone near you, not after Meatlug head-butted you and he nearly bit her in half-"

"Meatlug?" I questioned.

"Shhh, I'm getting to that." Astrid glared at me for interrupting her, "Anyway, so we took care of the last two dragons and then the cops showed up, something about a reported disturbance in the area. We had to get all the dragon's out quickly so that they wouldn't get caught, but Toothless was refusing to leave you, so Grayson and Steadfast had to step in to persuade him.

"When he left, the police came barging inside and Madden came out, screaming like a madman. They had to subdue him, and then we explained what had happened, or rather, a pretty close version, leaving out the whole dragon-thing. They handcuffed Madden and shoved him in a police car, and they took you to the hospital in an ambulance.

"Then we all went out to the woods, the clearing where you met Grayson, apparently, and in search of Toothless, Steadfast, and Scout. And you'll never guess what else we found!"

"What, what did you fine?" I asked, desperately wanting to know whether it was good or bad. Though, judging by Astrid's expression, I'd say it was good.

"The other dragons that were at the warehouse! They followed Toothless and them, and they were amazing! Grayson told us about the different breeds, like a Monstrous Nightmare and a Deadly Nadder, and we befriended them. There was another Deadly Nadder, just like Steadfast, and I named her Stormfly. I think she likes the name.

"Ruff and Tuff named the Hideous Zippleback. Their names are Barf and Belch, unsurprisingly." Astrid rolled her eyes at the twins' chosen names, "And then Fishlegs, for some reason, chose to name the Gronckle Meatlug. I think the reason he picked her is because she likes him.

"Even Snotlout named one. The Monstrous Nightmare, the big red dragon you were fighting, he named him Hookfang. I understand why you're so fond of Toothless now, dragons really are amazing creatures, and once you earn their trust, you'll never find a closer companion."

"Yeah, dragons are amazing," I agreed, "Did anyone else get hurt?"

"No, not severely, anyway. Some of us got a few scratches from falling debris and stuff, but you were the only one who really needed help."

"That's good to hear." I said.

"Yeah, well don't go doing that again! You had us all worried sick, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock!" she scowled at me, albeit in a strange sort of concerned way.

"You forgot to say 'the third'," I replied, smiling.

"I oughta hit you, ya know," she threatened.

"But you won't. You wouldn't hit an injured person, would you?"

"Hmmm," she hummed in thought before lifting a hand and smacking my arm lightly.

"That is for scary the crap out of me." I scrunched my nose up in disbelief before she pulled me forward by my shirt and kissed me, "And that, is for not dying."

"I-uhh-I-" I stuttered, dazed from the unexpected kiss.

"Ew! My eyes, my eyes!" Grayson shouted, now awake, from his spot in the chair with his hands covering his eyes.

"Oh, shut up," Astrid said, her cheeks a bright red, just the right color to match my own.

And then I chuckled, and the chuckle quickly evolved in a laugh, and then before I knew what was happening, I was doubled over in hysterics, ignoring the sharp pulling in my back that clearly protested it.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, probably very much confused and maybe even a little terrified, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. No, I'm better than fine. I'm great, extraordinary!" I said loudly, wiping away the tears of delight that had leaked from my eyes whilst I was laughing, "Everything is great! There's no more psycho trying to kidnap my best friend, no more secrets to hide, no more worrying about someone telling people about Toothless! Everything is great!"

I leaned forward in the blink of an eye and kissed Astrid once more on the lips. Finally, everything was right with the world. Well, not everything, but enough that the crushing weight of endless responsibilities was no longer resting on my shoulders quite so heavily as it had been before. Finally, I was happy.

 ** _And that's the last chapter, folks! There will still be an epilogue, which will be up soon, but this is the end of A Friend! It's been so long since I've started this story, I'm sad to see it go, but I'm glad that I was actually able to see it through to the end! I hope you enjoyed this final chapter, and I hope you enjoyed all those previous. This is my last author's note on A Friend, so I hope you also enjoy the epilogue as well. Be sure to leave a comment and a favorite on this story, as they are both very much appreciated and help me to write faster! Until next time, my friends, bye!_**


	36. Epilogue

It's been a few months since everything went down. School has started back up again, and right now Grayson and I are walking to the school building on a Friday, the last day of the week.

A lot has happened in the last few months. For one thing, I live with Grayson now.

After we protested against Madden, something that was hard for Grayson even though his father was was crazy, he was locked up. He'll be in jail for a good long while now.

Grayson turned eighteen recently, so I can legally live with him. It was a bit strange at first, but now I've grown used to it. Of course, mornings are difficult because, despite the fact that Grayson is my legal guardian now, he never wants to get out of bed to go to school.

Now I know you're probably thinking that I could never do this without my father's permission, and he'd never let me move out, but that's where you're wrong. He's actually the one who thought it'd be best if I lived somewhere else, and Grayson's proximity help immensely with the matter.

My father had explained to me the reasons for his drunken tirades, though he said they were no excuse for the abuse he had subjected me to. He explained to me how work had gotten difficult, how problems seemed to arise almost everywhere, and how a buddy of his had offered to take him to a bar with some friends, and he couldn't refuse. He also told me that he had never meant to harm me, that he loved me and I was the best son he could have ever asked for.

And during his confession of his faults, I had, at some point, told him of Toothless. Of course, he didn't believe me until I showed him proof, but I had explained to him that Toothless would never hurt me or anybody else, how none of the dragons would ever want to do that. He acquiesced and promised not to tell anyone. For that I was grateful.

I still visit him, never alone though, just in case. It's usually with Grayson that I go to my old home with, but sometimes it's Astrid, who I had told my father was now my girlfriend, and there was even one time when Scout came along. Despite the dragon's small size, he is fierce in a way that is rather frightening if you aren't on his side.

Also during the summer months, most of which I spent recovering, Grayson had found it within himself to tell me why exactly Madden had lost it, told me that he hadn't always been bad.

He told me of his mother's and younger sister's deaths a few years ago, killed in a deadly shooting. He spoke of how his father had grieved after that, and slowly lost his mind. He explained that his father was distant for the longest time, and then suddenly, he was back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. That was when he had applied for his teaching job and moved both himself and his son to a different state to pursue his teaching career.

His father's leap into insanity was the last straw for Grayson, and he was sad a lot during that time, until he met Steadfast and Scout. They made him happy, and he finally had someone to talk to that would actually listen.

When he told his father, however, he just used them as pawns, not that Grayson had noticed at first. He was too glad to notice, and his happy-go-lucky attitude that had not been a part of him since his family's death and his father's insanity returned.

It was sad to hear, and Grayson had cried, though he would never admit it. I was there though. I made sure he was alright. Grayson wasn't sad anymore, he had told me, he had friends now, had Steadfast and Scout, and it reminded me much of what Toothless had done for me. It's strange, really, how similar we actually are.

We arrive on school grounds, and almost immediately I am greeted by Astrid, the others trailing close behind.

"Hey," Astrid says, pecking my cheek with her lips.

"Hey, Astrid," I smile back at her.

"Woah," she exclaims, pointing to my eye, "What happened?"

I bring my right hand up to my swollen eye, lightly prodding the purplish bruise that has already begun to form, "I know it sounds like the most overused excuse in the book, but would you believe that I _actually_ ran into a door?"

Astrid's eyebrows furrow dubiously, so Grayson steps in and says, "I can confirm. I was there, and I was laughing so hard I was crying."

"Okay, I believe you. But if someone ever does hit you, I will kick them in the face," Astrid threatens, something she does rather often.

"Whose the man in your relationship again?" Snotlout asks, chuckling at his own joke.

"I can punch you too, ya know."

"Of course it's Hiccup, I've never seen a more manly man before in my life," Snotlout says nervously.

"That's what I thought." Astrid says, seemingly satisfied with Snotlout's response, and everyone is laughing, even Snotlout.

I smile. It's great to have friends, the very greatest thing ever. I'll always have these guys, even when we all graduate, some sooner than others, and when I'm no longer living with Grayson, and even if I end up breaking up with Astrid, because there is one thing that we all share, one thing that we'll always share. Despite the fact that we might eventually all move away from each other, to different parts of the world, even, we'll always be in contact, always visit, because we have one thing in common that most everyone else does not. And that is our dragons.

It's funny, really, to think that all of this started because I was distraught one day and decided to roam the forest. Had it been any other day, I might have missed it, or maybe I'd never have gone. But I did go, and I'm so happy I did. All of this started because one day, I ventured far from where I was meant to be, and, for the first time in a long time, I made a friend.


End file.
